Month: August 2023

Niger Crisis Could Deepen Country’s Food Insecurity, UN Says

Posted on by SeeAF

The United Nations warned Wednesday that the crisis in Niger could significantly worsen food insecurity in the impoverished country, urging humanitarian exemptions to sanctions and border closures to avert catastrophe. 

The U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA highlighted that even before Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was toppled in a coup late last month, the country counted more than 3 million acutely food-insecure people. 

More than 7 million others, who are considered to be moderately food-insecure, “could see their situation worsen due to the unfolding crisis,” OCHA warned, citing a preliminary analysis from the World Food Program. 

Bazoum, 63, was detained on July 26 by members of the presidential guard, in the fifth coup to hit Niger since independence from France in 1960. 

The U.N. food agency said it was continuing to deliver aid in Niger, despite the political crisis wracking the poor, landlocked country in the heart of the arid Sahel.  

“Our work is vital for the most vulnerable in Niger and needs to continue, particularly in the current circumstances,” Margot van der Velden, WFP’s acting regional director for western Africa, said in a statement. 

In the first week of August, the agency said it had delivered lifesaving food to 140,000 people across the country, and vital malnutrition care to 74,000 children. 

WFP said it expected to reach more than 1 million people with emergency food assistance this month alone. 

But it cautioned that sanctions and border closures linked to the political crisis were “greatly affecting the supply of vital foods and medical supplies into Niger.” 

“We urge all parties to facilitate humanitarian exemptions, enabling immediate access to people in need of critical food and basic necessities,” van der Velden said. 

She also called for more financial support, warning the worsening humanitarian situation in Niger was coming at a time when WFP was being forced to cut rations globally because of a lack of funds. 

A multi-agency appeal issued in March for $584 million to respond to the towering needs in Niger until the end of 2025 is only 39% funded, OCHA said. 

And the food security and malnutrition portion, representing more than a third of that appeal, has received 27% of the requested funds, it said. 
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British Museum Says Staff Member Dismissed After Items Go Missing, Stolen or Damaged

Posted on by SeeEU

The British Museum said Wednesday that a member of its staff has been dismissed after items dating back as far as the 15th century B.C. were found to be missing, stolen or damaged.

The museum said it has also ordered an independent review of security and a “vigorous program to recover the missing items.”

The stolen artifacts include gold jewelry and gems of semiprecious stones and glass dating from the 15th century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. Most were small items kept in a storeroom and none had been on display recently, the museum said.

“Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said George Osborne, the museum’s chair.

“This incident only reinforces the case for the reimagination of the museum we have embarked upon,” Osborne said.

The museum said that legal action would be taken against the dismissed staff member and that the matter was under investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

The 264-year-old British Museum is a major London tourist attraction, drawing visitors from around the world who come to see a vast collection of artifacts ranging from the Rosetta Stone that unlocked the language of ancient Egypt to scrolls bearing 12th century Chinese poetry and masks created by the indigenous people of Canada.

But the museum has also attracted controversy because it has resisted calls from communities around the world to return items of historical significance that were acquired during the era of the British Empire. The most famous of these disputes include marble carvings from the Parthenon in Greece and the Benin bronzes from West Africa.

Hartwig Fischer, the director of the British Museum, apologized and said the institution was determined to put things right.

“This is a highly unusual incident,” said Fischer said. “I know I speak for all colleagues when I say that we take the safeguarding of all the items in our care extremely seriously.”
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New US Ambassador to Niger Will Arrive in Country This Week

Posted on by SeeAF

The new U.S. ambassador to Niger, Kathleen FitzGibbon, will arrive in Niamey following a coup last month, the State Department said on Wednesday, in a signal of Washington’s continued engagement with the situation.

A U.S. official said she is expected to arrive in Niger later this week. The Senate confirmed FitzGibbon, a career foreign service officer, as U.S. ambassador late last month just after the coup, nearly a year after she was nominated.

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that there are no plans for her to present her credentials to coup leaders and that it is not necessary for the work at the embassy.

“She is going there to lead the mission during a critical time and to support the American community and to coordinate on the U.S. government’s efforts,” Patel said.

“Her arrival does not reflect a change in our position, and we continue to advocate for a diplomatic solution that respects the constitutional order in Niger,” he said.

Western powers and democratic African governments have called for the coup leaders to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, whom coup leaders have been detaining since July 26, but the military leaders have refused and rejected attempts at negotiation.

The coup and its aftermath have sucked in international powers with strategic interests in the region.

The U.S. State Department’s acting No. 2 traveled to Niger and held talks earlier this month with senior officials from the country’s junta, but made no progress in meetings she described as “difficult.”
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Afghan Pilots Wait in Pakistan, Hoping for Resettlement to US

Posted on by SeeUS

Sitting on the carpet in a small, third-floor apartment of a crowded building on the edge of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, six Afghan men sip traditional green tea as they scroll through messages and videos on their phones. All of them are anxiously awaiting the same thing – an email that will tell them where they stand in their journey to resettlement in the United States.

The men were pilots and engineers in Afghanistan’s military when the Taliban seized control of the country in August 2021. Fearing retaliation from those they had fought for years, these pilots, like hundreds of their colleagues, fled the country.

Almost 18 months since their arrival in Pakistan, the men voice frustration as their applications slowly make their way through the complicated U.S. refugee resettlement process. 

“Some of my friends got to Europe with help from human traffickers. If I had taken the money that I have spent here, from my savings, for the last 18 months, if I had spent that money on [trafficking] my life would have been better,” said a pilot who asked that we identify him as Hafeezullah, instead of with his real name as he feared for his safety.

“I would have gotten refuge in a European country by now,” the 27-year-old said. 

In the first few months of the Taliban’s return to power, the U.S. welcomed nearly 90,000 Afghans who feared for their well-being under the new regime. In early 2022, Washington moved to a second phase in which the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program provides the most straightforward path to Afghans seeking refugee resettlement in the United States.

To qualify, refugees must, on their own, first reach a third country where they can contact the State Department to begin the resettlement process. The pilots chose Pakistan as it provides an easy land route out of Afghanistan, and has diplomatic relations with the U.S., unlike Iran. 

The pilots with whom VOA met were recommended for refugee resettlement by some of the American soldiers who trained them during the U.S.-led Afghan war.  

After waiting for months, the pilots received their Afghan Referral Record, or ARR, numbers from the Resettlement Support Center in Pakistan. But there is still a long road ahead.  

“Case processing can be lengthy (potentially 12-18 months),” says the State Department’s website.  

The pilots will go through a pre-screening process at the Resettlement Support Center. This will be followed by an interview conducted by a U.S. immigration officer, multiple security checks, and a medical examination to determine their eligibility for resettlement in the United States. 

The time-consuming process is also suffering delays because it is understaffed, partly due to a 2017 Trump administration decision to drastically cut down refugee admissions. 

“So, it had to really be recreated from scratch,” said Bill Frelick, the refugee and migrant rights director at Human Rights Watch. “In addition to that, the entire infrastructure which is largely run by non-governmental locations was decimated,” he said.  

 

Despite the Biden administration increasing staffing, nearly a quarter of the positions are still unfilled in the international and refugee affairs division of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That’s according to a recent report by the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, an autonomous U.S. government auditor. 

As cases drag on, patience and money dwindle

During case processing, prospective refugees must be able to support themselves in the third country. For Afghan pilots living in Pakistan on expired visas, finding work is hard. Most of them are jobless and rely on their families back home to borrow money to send them. 

An Afghan pilot, who wished to be called Ahmed to protect his identity, told VOA he had run out of the money he gathered by selling his household goods before leaving Afghanistan.  

“Now I have started selling my wife’s jewelry”, said the 30-year-old Black Hawk pilot. 

Another pilot who requested to be called Tawheed for security reasons said the stress of not knowing what the future held for his two little girls was causing him health problems. 

“We [I] have high blood pressure, we [I] have a sugar [diabetes], we [I] have a mentally [mental health] problem, we [I] have depression,” the 32-year-old said.  

Despite the uncertainty, the pilots say they cannot go back to Afghanistan as they worry the Taliban will accuse them of spreading “propaganda” against them in Pakistan. Others like Ahmed say the Taliban are looking for them. 

“They came and searched my house many times. They took many of my books, because I had many English books. They took some of my [training] awards,” said Ahmed as he pulled up a video on his phone shot by a relative showing armed Taliban guards visiting his home.  

Roughly 40 Afghan pilots are in Pakistan, waiting to be moved to the U.S. Seeing little progress in their refugee resettlement cases, the pilots VOA met said they felt abandoned. 

“We are unhappy with our American friends who advised us to come here,” said Hafeezullah.   

But the Americans who referred the pilots cannot do much. VOA reached out to a few but did not get a response.

VOA reached out to the State Department as well but did not get a response as of publication.   

Away from loved ones, with little in their pockets, and not much information on when the next step in their resettlement will come, the pilots are losing patience. Hafeezullah, who said he had joined the air force to serve his country, says he now feels purposeless.

“When I wake up, I have a mind without goals. I see a devastated life with no future,” he said. 

Others are trying not to give up hope of making it to the U.S one day. 

“We just want from Allah, from God, there should be something good, some hope for the future, for my family, for my daughters,” Tawheed said. “If I see the situation, there is no hope, but Allah, I know will change everything.”
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Sanctions Take Toll on Livelihood of Nigeria-Niger Border Communities

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Trade between Nigeria and Niger has been halted because of sanctions due to Niger’s July coup. In Nigeria, officials say they could lose over $200 million in export trade. That’s causing some economic hardship for many communities on the border. Alhassan Bala reports from the border town of Magama Jibia, Nigeria. Camera: Gibson Emeka
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Kansas Bureau of Investigation Joins Newsroom Raid Case

Posted on by SeeUS

A Kansas state law enforcement agency has taken over an investigation that led to a police raid of a weekly newspaper, following widespread outcry from media advocacy groups and news organizations.

Police last Friday raided the offices of the weekly Marion County Record and the publisher’s home, seizing computers, phones and a file server.

Following widespread condemnation from press freedom groups and news organizations, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, or KBI, took over the case as of Monday morning.

The KBI, is now the “lead law enforcement agency” on the case, according to The Kansas City Star.

“As we transition, we will review prior steps taken and work to determine how best to proceed with the case. Once our thorough investigation concludes, we will forward all investigative facts to the prosecutor for review,” KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood told the newspaper in a statement.

But the KBI told the Associated Press that it “joined” the investigation and declined to say it was leading the inquiry.

The KBI, which is headquartered in the state capital, Topeka, did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.

The raid on the newspaper in a small central Kansas county shocked First Amendment advocates and journalist associations. In a statement this week, the Society of Professional Journalists condemned what it called “an egregious attack on freedom of the press, the First Amendment and all the liberties we hold dear as journalists.” 

In a Monday night statement, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly expressed support for further investigation into the raid.

“I want to make sure that in the state of Kansas, that we are not violating either individuals’ or press’s constitutional right to free speech,” Kelly said. “We look forward to getting all of the facts out so we know what kind of issue we have.”

The Marion County Record, in covering the raid on its own office and publisher, has said it believes the raids were linked to a dispute between the newspaper and Kari Newell, a local restaurant owner.

Newell accused the newspaper of invading her privacy and illegally accessing information about her, including a 2008 drunken driving conviction against her, the Associated Press reported. She also suggested the newspaper targeted her after she threw Eric Meyer, the newspaper’s co-owner and publisher, and a reporter out of a restaurant during a political event.

Meyer has said in interviews that he thinks the paper’s coverage of local politics played a role in prompting the raids.

Meyer said the Marion County Record was also investigating Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody’s past work with the Kansas City, Missouri, police. Cody led last Friday’s raids.
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US Slaps Sanctions Over Alleged Arms Deals Between North Korea, Russia

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The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between North Korea and Russia as Washington cracks down on those seeking to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said that Russia has increasingly been forced to turn to North Korea and other allies to sustain its war in Ukraine as it expends munitions and loses heavy equipment on the battlefield.

The action is the latest by Washington, which has imposed rafts of sanctions targeting Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin since the start of the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and turned cities to rubble.

“The United States continues to root out illicit financial networks that seek to channel support from North Korea to Russia’s war machine,” Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in the statement.

“Alongside our allies and partners, we remain committed to exposing and disrupting the arms trade underpinning Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.”

The entities targeted in Wednesday’s action are Limited Liability Company Verus, Defense Engineering Limited Liability Partnership and Versor S.R.O.
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Georgia’s Strategic Relationship With China Worries Partners in West

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Georgia, a NATO and European Union aspirant, is touting a new strategic partnership with China, prompting concerns the alliance will strain Tbilisi’s long-standing Western partnerships.

Georgia signed a strategic partnership agreement with China following an official visit to Beijing last month by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. 

The partnership carries with it the potential of increased trade and infrastructure development, with possible economic benefits which Tbilisi is touting for its more than 3.5 million citizens. 

“China very rapidly became the third-largest trading partner for Georgia. And today, since you asked about the potential, what else could we achieve? I think easily, if we continue to export more goods, more products, more quality products on the Chinese market and vice versa, I think China can easily become the No. 1 trading partner for Georgia. So, there’s a big potential,” Garibashvili recently told the Chinese CGTN show “Leaders Talk.”

Garibashvili underscored his country’s unique strategic location at the eastern end of the Black Sea as a way to connect East with West by what he termed “the shortest route.”

Path to prosperity or long-term risk?

The agreement has come under scrutiny as Georgia awaits a European Commission decision on its EU candidacy, expected at the end of this year.

As explained by Garibashvili, the strategic partnership aims to enhance trade and logistics cooperation. He says it commits Georgia, among others, to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative as well as a Global Security Initiative, or GSI, part of a proposed security architecture announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year. 

Some view this latest move as a threat to Georgia’s European aspirations, which are backed by an overwhelming majority of the population and enshrined in its constitution. Some experts are particularly concerned about the GSI, which, according to Lily McElwee, a fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “basically is a way to provide Chinese-style solutions to governance issues.”

‘Anti-Western, anti-American initiative?’

Formally announced on April 21, 2022, two months after Russia started its full-scale war in Ukraine, GSI is “an alternative to the support that the West has given to Ukraine,” former Georgian Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli told VOA.

The fundamental premise of GSI as outlined by the Chinese Communist Party is that the “security of one country should not come at the expense of others.”

“The legitimate and reasonable security concerns of all countries should be taken seriously and addressed properly, not persistently ignored or systemically challenged,” states a position paper published by China’s foreign ministry. 

Some observers view it as a challenge to the rules-based international order dominated by Western democracies.

“This is an initiative stemming from China, aiming to reshape the global landscape and the current world order,” said Miro Popkhadze, a fellow in the Eurasia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

He told VOA the Chinese version of global order directly undermines Georgia’s security.

“Russia is not in favor of countries like Georgia or Ukraine joining NATO,” he said. “If one were to heed Russia’s concerns in line with this initiative, Georgia might need to reconsider its European aspirations. Georgia’s stance appears conflicting: Georgia aims to be part of NATO and the European Union, yet the country’s government also is supporting an initiative that might be harmful to Georgia’s interests.”

While the partnership with Georgia expands China’s economic and security interests in the Caucasus and the Black Sea, other observers say Tbilisi itself is not getting much out of the deal.

Tinatin Khidasheli, Georgia’s former defense minister who now heads the Tbilisi-based non-governmental organization Civic Idea, called the partnership “a game changer” and “a huge challenge for the Georgian state.”  

“Not only on the level of everyday life, but even on the level of the constitutional foundation of this country,” she told VOA. “Because the constitution of Georgia specifically says that Georgia’s foreign policy priority is becoming a member of the European Union.”

One of the most meaningful indicators of Georgia not being an equal partner in the relationship is the document’s opening paragraph, which reads, “The two sides reaffirm their respect for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of all countries. Georgia firmly adheres to the one-China principle.”

China understands the one-China principle to legitimize its sovereignty over the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, a position that the United States and most Western countries have not endorsed in the case of Taiwan.

Georgia’s occupied territories

The document also fails to mention Georgia within its internationally recognized borders, which include the two Russian-occupied regions of Georgia — the Tskhinvali Region, also called South Ossetia, and Abkhazia — which Russia invaded in 2008 and then declared as independent states.  

“This omission is likely because China’s close strategic partner is Russia,” said Khidasheli, adding that a balanced statement would have recognized Georgia’s territorial integrity “in relation to the occupied territories.”

Others see Georgia’s budding alignment with China as moving in the opposite direction of the West, said Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO.

“It’s true that lots of countries, including Western countries, have ongoing substantial relationships with China, but the trend has been to pull away from that,” he told VOA. “Whereas what we’ve seen from the Georgian government is going in the opposite direction by just recently signing a new strategic partnership with China.”

Georgia’s foreign affairs ministry did not respond to VOA requests for a response.

Volker thinks some economic deals signed with China “give advantage to China in these foreign markets.”

Citing the 2022 enactment of the U.S. CHIPs and Science Act, Volker points to the United States as just one example of a Western nation weaning itself from Chinese supply chains by “favoring domestic production of semiconductors to ensure system integrity.”

Taiwan currently produces some 60% of the world’s semiconductors, which are used in a wide variety of products including smartphones and electric vehicles, and have military applications. Because Taiwan faces threats from China, which claims the self-ruling island as its own, the U.S. has allocated $52.7 billion to promote semiconductor research, development, manufacturing, and workforce development on its own soil. 

In this global context, Volker cautions that by favoring short-term deals with China, the Georgian government “may be underestimating Georgia’s own long-term interests and its relationship with the West.” 

Matthew Bryza, a former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan, expressed worries about the timing of this partnership and the message it might send to the West.

“The moment chosen to announce this strategic partnership and form it is now against the backdrop of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and Georgia’s refusal to join the sanctions against Russia,” he told VOA.

“[The Georgian government’s] ridiculous lies that the United States wants to use Georgia to open a second front against Russia … all this together cannot be seen as a friendly set of actions by a country that wishes to join the transatlantic community,” he said. “Any country that does that is not fit for joining the transatlantic family.”

The official U.S. government position was subtler.

In a written comment obtained by VOA’s Georgian service, the State Department said, “The United States respects countries’ sovereign decisions about with whom they want to engage with or do business with.”

“However, we emphasize the importance of these activities being done transparently, according to the rule of law, and with trusted vendors,” it said.

The United States has had a strategic partnership with Georgia since 2009. 
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Chinese Social Media Platforms Fail to Control Racism Against Black People: Report

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A new report by Human Rights Watch finds that racist content denigrating Black people is increasingly common on the Chinese internet, and that major social media platforms and Chinese authorities have failed to address the issue systematically.

HRW analyzed hundreds of videos and posts on popular Chinese social media platforms, including Bilibili, Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo and Xiaohongshu, since late 2021. It found that content portraying Black people based on offensive racial stereotypes has become rampant.

It says much of the content is created to generate money.

“There are clicks and viewership involved, and that usually means profit for social media content creators,” Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at HRW, told VOA.

Racism fueled by stereotypes and censorship

According to the report, one type of video that’s widely shared on Chinese social media usually portrays Africans as poor and dependent while framing Chinese people, who are often the content creators of those videos, as wealthy providers of jobs, housing and money.

In addition to stereotypes against Black people, online content featuring interracial relationships often attracts hostile comments or threats to individuals in the photos or videos.

HRW found that Chinese internet users will accuse Black people married to Chinese people of “contaminating and threatening” the Chinese race and unleash online threats against Chinese women who share photos with their Black male partners.

In some cases, these women will receive death or rape threats or experience doxing, meaning their personal information is shared online without their consent.

In 2019, a “study buddy” program involving foreign and Chinese students at Shandong University became the target of racist and sexist attacks online. Some netizens accused the school of assigning Chinese female students to foreign male students, particularly Black students. Some Chinese female students involved in the program experienced harassment and intimidation on campus.

Wang from HRW says the rampant circulation of racist content against Black people and Africans on Chinese social media is prompted by the Chinese government’s portrayal of Africa as a “poor, backward” continent that needs investment from China.

“This gives Chinese people the impression that Africans are less developed, less intelligent and less diligent, and it contributes to the rampant racism [against Black people] in China,” she told VOA in a phone interview.

Videos or posts that promote racial equality or criticize racism in China will often be censored after becoming a trending topic on Chinese social media platforms. “Unlike the U.S., where racism is widely discussed in the media and academia, there is no press and academic freedom in China, so it’s hard for good content on racism to spread,” Wang said.

Lack of incentive to censor racist content online

Even though most Chinese social media platforms have community guidelines that ban content promoting racism and discrimination, the HRW report argues that the amount of racist content on the internet suggests that these platforms either fail to enforce content moderation based on their guidelines or their existing policies are inadequate to address racist content.

In one case, the Chinese Embassy in Malawi said it strongly condemns “racism in any form” and that it urged social media platforms to “strictly prohibit the dissemination of all racist contents.” The comments came after the BBC released a documentary exposing a Chinese man using local children to film personalized greeting videos that contained racist content. 

Following the BBC expose, Chinese social media platforms censored videos containing the term “Africa,” which affected some educational videos. Analysts say this incident reflects Chinese social media platforms’ typical practice of suppressing content that has generated widespread public discussion.

“When social media platforms try to silence discussions related to certain issues, they usually impose search bans on words or phrases,” Eric Liu, an analyst at China Digital Times, told VOA. “[In the BBC case,] Chinese social media platforms censored the word ‘Africa’ for a short period of time, and when the news had blown over, they removed censorship over the word.”

And since censorship tools on Chinese social media platforms focus on only blocking keywords, deleting posts or suppressing public opinion, they can’t effectively stop the circulation of discriminatory content, said Liu, a former censor operator for Weibo. “They can censor the word ‘Africa,’ but they can’t respond to discriminatory content,” he said.

Some Black people living in China expressed shock at the lack of actions taken to do away with online hate speech.

“For me, it’s shocking that [racist] stuff like that doesn’t get censored or banned given how quickly the Great Firewall works to ban,” a West African man in Shanghai told HRW. He was referring to China’s internet firewall.

VOA reached out to Chinese social media companies, including Bytedance, Weibo and Tencent, for comments, and so far, only Tencent has responded. In an e-mailed response, Tencent referred VOA to clauses related to inciting national hatred or hate speech in its community guidelines but didn’t explain how the platform addresses racist content against Black people.

In a written response to HRW’s inquiry, the Chinese short video platform Douyin said that it relies on a combination of people and technology to enforce content moderation guidelines, and that it takes action on approximately more than 300 videos and comments per day that “include violative content targeting Black people.”

Wang from HRW says Chinese social media platforms’ ways of handling online racist content is an “appeasement” of the Chinese government. “When the Chinese government no longer pays attention to this issue, they just go back to the old ways of allowing racist content to spread as it creates business for them,” she told VOA.

HRW said that while Beijing often touts China-Africa anti-colonial solidarity and unity, Chinese authorities have ignored pervasive hate speech against Black people on the Chinese internet. “Beijing should recognize that undertaking investments in Africa and embracing China-Africa friendship won’t undo the harm caused by unaddressed racism,” Wang said.

To effectively address online hate speech against Black people, HRW urged Beijing to implement efforts that include public education, promotion of tolerance, publicly countering incendiary misinformation and strengthening the protection of individuals whose security is threatened.

Despite these suggestions, Liu from China Digital Times said he thinks it’s unlikely that online racist content will disappear anytime soon.

“Instead of cultivating capabilities to combat online racist content, [Chinese] social media platforms may respond to the report by blocking words such as ‘Black people’ or ‘Africans,’ ” he told VOA.
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Bidens to View Hawaii Wildfires Damage

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U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are planning to visit Maui next Monday to get a firsthand look at the devastation left in the aftermath of last week’s wildfires that killed at least 106 people on the Hawaiian island, the White House announced Wednesday.

The Bidens plan to meet with survivors of the most devastating U.S. wildfires in more than 100 years, the White House said, as well as first responders and federal, state and local officials.

“I want to go and make sure we got everything they need,” Biden said Tuesday, while at the same time not impeding efforts to recover the remains of more victims. 

Many of the bodies found in the devastation on the Pacific Ocean island have been unrecognizable. Fingerprints have rarely been found, although 41 people with missing family members have given authorities DNA samples in case the bodies of relatives are discovered.

The wildfires, which at one point spread more than a kilometer every minute, all but destroyed the town of Lahaina, a popular beachside tourist destination.

Some Maui residents have complained that the national government has been slow to assist in the recovery effort, but the White House said Biden “continues to marshal a whole-of-government response to the deadly Maui fires.”

The White House said Hawaii Governor Josh Green advised that the recovery effort is expected to be sufficiently far along by early next week to allow for a presidential visit.
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Germany’s Cabinet Approves Plan to Liberalize Cannabis Rules

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Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis, setting the scene for the European Union’s most populous member to decriminalize possession of limited amounts and allow members of “cannabis clubs” to buy the substance for recreational purposes.

The legislation is billed as the first step in a two-part plan and still needs approval by parliament. But the government’s approval is a stride forward for a prominent reform project of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal coalition, although significantly short of its original ambitions.

The bill, which the government hopes will take effect at the end of this year, foresees legalizing possession of up to 25 grams (nearly 1 ounce) of cannabis for recreational purposes and allowing individuals to grow up to three plants on their own.

German residents who are 18 and older would be allowed to join nonprofit “cannabis clubs” with a maximum of 500 members each. The clubs would be allowed to grow cannabis for members’ personal consumption.

Individuals would be allowed to buy up to 25 grams per day, or a maximum 50 grams per month — a figure limited to 30 grams for people under 21. Membership in multiple clubs would not be allowed. The clubs’ costs would be covered by membership fees, which would be staggered according to how much cannabis members use.

The government plans a ban on advertising or sponsoring cannabis and the clubs, and consumption won’t be allowed within 200 meters (656 feet) of schools, playgrounds and sports facilities, or near cannabis club premises.

Officials hope their plan will help protect consumers against contaminated products and reduce drug-related crime. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he expects the system to produce “very competitive” prices, “so we think that we can push back the black market well with these rules.”

At present, “we have rising consumption, problematic consumption,” Lauterbach told reporters. “It simply couldn’t have carried on like this.”

The center-right opposition argues that the government is pressing ahead with legalizing a risky drug despite European legal obstacles and expert opinion. An organization representing German judges says the plan is likely to increase rather than decrease the burden on the judicial system and could even increase demand for black-market cannabis.

Some advocates of legalization aren’t happy either.

“What we’re getting from the health minister is overregulation, a continued stigmatization of cannabis users and a much too tight regulatory corset, which simply makes it impossible for many, many [cannabis clubs] to work,” said Oliver Waack-Jürgensen, who heads the Berlin-based High Ground “cannabis social club” founded last year. He is also on the board of a national association representing such clubs.

Lauterbach rejected the objections.

“The fact that it’s being attacked from both sides is a good sign,” the minister said. He added that “approval with much more liberalization, like for example in Holland or some American states, would have led to consumption expanding,” and that those who oppose any legalization “have no answer” to rising consumption, crime and a burgeoning black market.

The legislation is to be accompanied by a campaign meant to sensitize young people to the risks of consuming cannabis.

The government says it plans to follow the new legislation by mapping out a second step — five-year tests of regulated commercial supply chains in select regions, which would then be scientifically evaluated.

That’s far short of its original plan last year, which foresaw allowing the sale of cannabis to adults across the country at licensed outlets. It was scaled back following talks with the EU’s executive commission.

Approaches elsewhere in Europe vary. The Netherlands combines decriminalization with little market regulation.

Dutch authorities tolerate the sale and consumption of small amounts of the substance at so-called coffeeshops, but producing and selling large amounts of it, necessary to keep the coffeeshops supplied, remains illegal. Amsterdam, long a magnet for tourists wanting to smoke weed, has been cracking down on coffeeshops.

The Dutch government, meanwhile, has launched an experiment it says aims to “determine whether and how controlled cannabis can be legally supplied to coffeeshops and what the effects of this would be.”

In Switzerland, authorities last year cleared the way for a pilot project allowing a few hundred people in Basel to buy cannabis from pharmacies for recreational purposes. The Czech government has been working on a plan similar to Germany’s to allow sales and recreational use of cannabis, which isn’t finalized.

Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, has proposed legalizing weed, but parliament turned down the idea. France has no plans to liberalize its strict cannabis rules.
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Malawi’s Parliament Recommends Referendum on Same-Sex Marriages

Posted on by SeeAF

In Malawi, a southern African nation that criminalizes homosexuality, faith leaders have spoken out against same-sex relations. While parliament recommends a referendum on whether to legalize same-sex marriage, civil society organizations say human rights should not be subject to a popular vote. From the capital, Lilongwe, Chimwemwe Padatha has the story.
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Niger Says 17 Soldiers Killed in Ambush

Posted on by SeeAF

Niger’s defense ministry said late Tuesday an attack by suspected jihadists in the western part of the country killed 17 Nigerien soldiers.

A defense ministry statement said its forces were ambushed near the town of Koutougou, which is located near Niger’s borders with Mali and Burkina Faso.

In addition to those killed, the statement said the attack wounded 20 other soldiers, and that all of the casualties had been evacuated to Niamey.

The defense ministry also said Nigerien troops killed more than one hundred militants.

The incident comes three weeks after a military coup in Niger, with leaders saying they acted after the elected government’s lack of action to control jihadi violence.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Conservative Group Aims to Persuade Republicans to Support Ukraine

Posted on by SeeUS

A new organization in Washington will spend $2 million in an advertising campaign aimed at shoring up Republican lawmakers’ support for Ukraine. The effort is being launched ahead of a spending fight in Congress that is likely to endanger continued U.S. funding for that country’s fight against a Russian invasion.

Republicans for Ukraine, a project of the larger organization Defending Democracy Together, is spearheaded by Republican pollster Sarah Longwell and conservative pundit Bill Kristol.

The campaign takes shape as support for continued U.S. aid to Ukraine is waning among all U.S. voters, but especially among conservative Republicans.

The group has solicited video testimonials from more than 50 Republican voters across the country, in which they outline their reasons for continuing to support U.S. aid to Ukraine. Republicans for Ukraine will use those videos in a series of advertisements directed at GOP voters and lawmakers, including commercials scheduled to air during the party’s first presidential primary debate next week.

Creating ‘permission structures’

John Conway, the director of strategy for Republicans for Ukraine, told VOA that support for democracy abroad has historically been a core value of the Republican Party, and that the aim of the group is to showcase the voices of GOP voters who still feel that way.

“We’re elevating the voices of real Republicans and conservatives who want the United States to continue to fight for Ukrainian democracy,” Conway said. “We’re going to use the testimonials of these Republicans and conservatives to counter a lot of the loudest voices in the Republican Party who are willing to let Ukraine democracy fall and are willing to appease [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, in his fight in Ukraine.”

Conway said that during the coming negotiations over spending bills, his group will target Republican lawmakers in a position to exert influence on decisions about aid to Ukraine. However, he said the group is also trying to create a “permission structure” that helps rank-and-file Republican voters to see that membership in the party and support for Ukraine are not mutually exclusive.

“Showing these messengers, people like themselves, creates these permission structures where it’s acceptable to be a member of the Republican Party — it might even be fine to be a Trump supporter and to have the MAGA hat — and to still support the United States’ efforts in Ukraine,” he said.

History of US support

U.S. support for Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 has included military, financial and humanitarian assistance. Combined, that support has totaled more than $113 billion, according to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Currently, the administration of President Joe Biden says that it has enough funds to continue supporting Ukraine at current levels for a few more months. Last week, Biden requested that Congress approve an additional $24 billion in order to maintain support into fiscal 2025, which begins in October.

When lawmakers return to Washington after their August recess, they will have until the end of September to agree on a broader spending bill or risk a government shutdown beginning as early as Oct. 1.

GOP lawmakers differ

Among prominent figures in the Republican Party, there are a wide range of positions on continued support for Ukraine. Former President Donald Trump, currently the front-runner for the party’s presidential nomination in 2024, refused to commit to supporting Ukraine in an interview in May. In the past, he has referred to Putin’s invasion as “genius.”

In the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently reaffirmed his support for Ukraine, calling the war there “the most important thing going on internationally right now” in an interview with Politico. Senator Lindsey Graham, a vocal advocate of Ukraine’s bid to join NATO, has also continued to voice support.

However, other Republicans in the Senate, such as Josh Hawley of Missouri and J.D. Vance of Ohio, have been openly skeptical of continued assistance.

In the House of Representatives, where Republicans have the majority, the number of GOP members opposed to continued funding for Ukraine is significant among the party’s base. That means that it will be difficult to pass a bill that includes more funding without extensive Democratic assistance.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said that he will not bring a supplemental Ukraine funding bill to the floor for a vote, meaning that any such funding could only find its way to the floor of the House if it is part of a larger spending bill.

Popular support fades

Popular support for providing aid to Ukraine was high and bipartisan in the early days of Russia’s invasion but has fallen as the war has dragged on and costs have mounted. Significant differences between Democrats and Republicans have also emerged.

A recent poll conducted by CNN and the research company SSRS found that 51% of Americans believe that the U.S. has done enough to support Ukraine, while 48% say it should do more. The same survey found that 55% believe Congress should not authorize additional funding for Ukraine, while 45% believe lawmakers should.

The results show significant differences depending on how respondents identified politically. Among those who identified as Republican, 59% said that the U.S. has done enough to support Ukraine, and 71% said that Congress should not authorize more funding.

Among Democrats, only 38% of respondents said that they believe the U.S. has already done enough, and the same percentage were in favor of cutting off funding.

Respondents who identified as politically independent were more likely to oppose continued support for Ukraine, with 56% saying the U.S. has already done enough and 55% in favor of blocking additional funding.

Attitudes seen as ‘malleable’

Despite public polling that shows a majority of Republicans believe the U.S. has already done enough for Ukraine and that funding should be cut off, Conway, of Republicans for Ukraine, says he believes there is an opportunity to change some minds.

“We think that public opinion is still a little bit malleable right now,” he said. “So we’re not ready to give up the fight. We think that there’s still a portion of the Republican Party — and a substantial one — that is receptive to this message. We’re going to do the hard work of bringing folks back to that kind of traditional Republican value of supporting democracy around the world.”
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Death Toll From Maui Fire Reaches 106

Posted on by SeeUS

A mobile morgue unit arrived Tuesday to help Hawaii officials working painstakingly to identify remains, as Maui County released the first names of people killed in the wildfire that all but incinerated the historic town of Lahaina a week ago and raised the death toll to 106.

The county named two victims, Lahaina residents Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, adding in a statement that a further three victims have been identified.

Those names will be released once the county has identified their next of kin.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services deployed a team of coroners, pathologists and technicians along with exam tables, X-ray units and other equipment to identify victims and process remains, said Jonathan Greene, the agency’s deputy assistant secretary for response.

“It’s going to be a very, very difficult mission,” Greene said. “And patience will be incredibly important because of the number of victims.”

Request for patience

A week after a blaze tore through historic Lahaina, many survivors started moving into hundreds of hotel rooms set aside for displaced locals, while donations of food, ice, water and other essentials poured in.

Crews using cadaver dogs have scoured about 32% of the area, the County of Maui said in a statement Tuesday. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green asked for patience as authorities became overwhelmed with requests to visit the burn area.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier renewed an appeal for families with missing relatives to provide DNA samples. So far 41 samples have been submitted, the county statement said, and 13 DNA profiles have been obtained from remains.

The governor warned that scores more bodies could be found. The wildfires, some of which have not yet been fully contained, are already the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century. Their cause was under investigation.

When asked by Hawaii News Now if children are among the missing, Green said Tuesday: “Tragically, yes. … When the bodies are smaller, we know it’s a child.”

He described some of the sites being searched as “too much to share or see from just a human perspective.”

Another complicating factor, Green said, is that storms with rain and high winds were forecast for the weekend. Officials are mulling whether to “preemptively power down or not for a short period of time, because right now all of the infrastructure is weaker.”

Hardships for survivors

A week after the fires started, some residents remained with intermittent power, unreliable cellphone service and uncertainty over where to get assistance. Some people walked periodically to a seawall, where phone connections were strongest, to make calls. Flying low off the coast, a single-prop airplane used a loudspeaker to blare information about where to get water and supplies.

Victoria Martocci, who lost her scuba business and a boat, planned to travel to her storage unit in Kahalui from her Kahana home Wednesday to stash documents and keepsakes given to her by a friend whose house burned. “These are things she grabbed, the only things she could grab, and I want to keep them safe for her,” Martocci said.

The local power utility has already faced criticism for not shutting off power as strong winds buffeted a parched area under high risk for fire. It’s not clear whether the utility’s equipment played any role in igniting the flames.

Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. President and CEO Shelee Kimura said many factors go into a decision to cut power, including the impact on people who rely on specialized medical equipment and concerns that a shutoff in the fire area would have knocked out water pumps.

Green has said the flames raced as fast as 1.6 kilometers every minute in one area, fueled by dry grass and propelled by strong winds from a passing hurricane.

Fires still burning

The blaze that swept into centuries-old Lahaina last week destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000. That fire has been 85% contained, according to the county. Another blaze known as the Upcountry fire was 60% contained.

The Lahaina fire caused about $3.2 billion in insured property losses, according to calculations by Karen Clark & Company, a prominent disaster and risk modeling company. That doesn’t count damage to uninsured property. The firm said more than 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed by flames, with about 3,000 damaged by fire or smoke or both.

Even where the flames have retreated, authorities have warned that toxic byproducts may remain, including in drinking water, after the flames spewed poisonous fumes. That has left many unable to return home.

The Red Cross said 575 evacuees were spread across five shelters as of Monday. Green said thousands of people will need housing for at least 36 weeks. He said Tuesday that some 450 hotel rooms and 1,000 Airbnb rentals were being made available.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he and first lady Jill Biden would visit Hawaii “as soon as we can” but he doesn’t want his presence to interrupt recovery and cleanup efforts. During a stop in Milwaukee to highlight his economic agenda, Biden pledged that “every asset they need will be there for them.”

Emergency assistance

More than 3,000 people have registered for federal assistance, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and that number was expected to grow.

FEMA was providing $700 to displaced residents to cover the cost of food, water, first aid and medical supplies, in addition to qualifying coverage for the loss of homes and personal property.

The Biden administration was seeking $12 billion more for the government’s disaster relief fund as part of its supplemental funding request to Congress.

Green said “leaders all across the board” have helped by donating over 450,000 kilograms of food as well as ice, water, diapers and baby formula. U.S. Marines, the Hawaii National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard have all joined the aid and recovery efforts.

Lahaina resident Kekoa Lansford helped rescue people as the flames swept through town. Now he is collecting stories from survivors, hoping to create a timeline of what happened. He has 170 emails so far.

The scene was haunting. “Horrible, horrible,” Lansford said Tuesday. “You ever seen hell in the movies? That is what it looked like. Fire everywhere. Dead people.”
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Russia Hits Odesa Port

Posted on by SeeEU

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russia damaged grain infrastructure at a port in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine as part of an overnight drone attack.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Telegram the attack targeted the port of Reni on the Danube River.

Odesa’s Gov. Oleh Kiper said on Telegram the attack damaged warehouses and grain storage facilities at the port.

Odesa’s Gov. Oleh Kiper said on Telegram the attack damaged warehouses and grain storage facilities at a port on the Danube River.

Kiper said there were no reported casualties from the attack, and that Ukraine’s air force had downed 11 Russian drones over Odesa.

The Ukrainian military said its air defenses destroyed 13 total drones overnight, saying Russia had used Iranian-made Shahed drones to target Odesa and Mykolaiv.

In the eastern part of the country, Ukrainian forces recaptured the settlement of Urozhaine in the Donetsk region, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.

“Urozhaine liberated,” Maliar said on Telegram. “Our defenders are entrenched on the outskirts.”

Russia’s defense ministry said Wednesday its air defense systems destroyed three Ukrainian drones over the Kaluga region.

The Russian ministry said the early morning attack did not cause any injuries or infrastructure damage.

Black Sea shipping

The Hong-Kong-flagged container ship Joseph Schulte left Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Wednesday.  

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the vessel was the first to set off down a temporary Black Sea corridor that Ukraine established for civilian ships following Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The Joseph Schulte was carrying 30,000 metric tons of cargo, Kubrakov said.  The vessel had been stuck in Odesa since Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia has not said whether it will respect Ukraine’s shipping corridor.  On Sunday, a Russian patrol ship fired warning shots at a vessel after what Russia said was a failure by the captain to respond to a request for an inspection.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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Afghan Journalist Who Fled Taliban Rule Adjusts to Life in Europe

Posted on by SeeEU

s a woman and a journalist, Nafisa Sahar saw no future for herself when the Taliban took back power in Afghanistan. Now in Dusseldorf, Germany, she is picking up the pieces of her life. For Helay Asad in Dusseldorf, Bezhan Hamdard has the story for VOA News.
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Huge Military Parade Shows Poland’s Changing Attitude on Defense

Posted on by SeeEU

Poland on Tuesday held its largest military parade in 29 years — a display of strength aimed at neighbors Belarus and Russia and a sign that Polish attitudes on defense are changing in the wake of Russian aggression in Ukraine. For VOA, Lesia Bakalets reports from Warsaw.
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Bring Austin Home, Demands Mother of Journalist Held in Syria

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More than a decade since her son Austin Tice went missing in Syria, Debra Tice has strong words for President Joe Biden. Her son is one of only two American journalists held overseas. From Washington, VOA’s Cristina Caicedo Smit reports. Camera: Bruce Ferder.
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Tennessee Refinery Could Break Chinese Chokehold on Two Critical Minerals

Posted on by SeeUS

A solution to potential shortages of two critical minerals used in making semiconductors and advanced military equipment — exports of which were restricted by China this month — may be lying in some waste storage ponds in central Tennessee.

Owners of a zinc processing facility in the southern U.S. state say they are developing a plan to extract the two minerals — gallium and germanium — from the ponds where for years the company has deposited the residue from its refining of zinc from five mines located in central and eastern Tennessee.

Now the company — Netherlands-headquartered Nyrstar — is looking for ways to finance the project. Industry experts say the United States should be willing to pay the price to develop a guaranteed source of the minerals, which are deemed critical for the manufacture of the tiny chips that control electronic devices ranging from smart bombs to refrigerators.

Beijing announced last month that it was imposing export controls on the two minerals effective Aug. 1 in what was seen as retaliation for U.S. export controls on finished computer chips that China could use in the manufacture of high-tech weapons.

While Western chipmakers say they have ample supplies of the two minerals in the short term, Beijing’s action has prompted a scramble to secure new sources. China currently accounts for 98% of the gallium used worldwide in chipmaking and about 60% of refined germanium.

While the minerals can be obtained in other countries, aggressive Chinese pricing has effectively put everyone else out of business, according to Christopher Ecclestone, a London-based minerals and commodities strategist interviewed by VOA.

“The reason why the Chinese ended up with dominance in these metals is because they’ve been prepared to produce and sell these metals at knock-down prices, sometimes at a loss, to make sure that nobody else produces them,” he said.

“This is all part of their strategic thinking that ‘we’ve got it and other people don’t have it, so we’re potentially in control.'”

The United States has not produced primary (low-purity, unrefined) gallium since 1987 and has none in its government stockpile.

“The remaining producers outside of China most likely restricted output owing to China’s dominant production capacity,” a U.S. Geological Survey report on critical minerals stated.

The picture is a little less extreme with germanium, with Canadian mining conglomerate Teck Resources providing about one-third of the world’s supply, Ecclestone said.

Enter the Clarksville, Tennessee-based zinc refinery with its plan to extract the two minerals from residue in its waste storage ponds, where they have been sitting as natural byproducts of the zinc-refining process. Existing stocks would be augmented with residue from future zinc processing at a new $150 million state-of-the-art facility.

“Both germanium and gallium are by-product metals,” Ecclestone explained. “There’s no gallium mine out there.” Rather, he said, gallium is a byproduct of bauxite smelting and zinc smelting. Germanium, similarly, is derived from the process of zinc smelting and also resides in the fly ash of coal production.

Recycled minerals

Other efforts to extract the minerals are also underway. The Pentagon has initiated a program to recycle germanium from decommissioned military equipment that could be used in night-vision, thermal-sensing devices and other products, according to information released by the U.S. government.

Windows of decommissioned tanks and other military vehicles are also said to be a reliable source of germanium. Altogether the Pentagon programs are expected to produce up to 3 metric tons per year of high-purity germanium ingot.

But that is dwarfed by Nyrstar’s plans, first reported in Tennessee media, which call for the production of up to 30 tons of germanium and 40 tons of gallium a year. That would make up for much of the 43.7 tons of germanium that China exported in 2022 and its 94 tons of gallium.

The company says it is exploring funding opportunities from federal and state governments as well as private U.S. sources. Company officials are hopeful that funding will be in place in the next few months and that construction can begin soon afterward.

Colorado-based mineral economist David Hammond told VOA he thinks the company’s timeline for the construction’s completion of two to two and a half years is realistic and, like Ecclestone, he believes the United States should be willing to shoulder the added cost of establishing domestic sources for critical minerals such as gallium and germanium.

“Over the last 30 years, China has managed to outstrip the U.S. in critical minerals supply chain and related technical expertise,” he said. “We’re only recently beginning to rebuild what we need.”

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the location of the zinc refinery. It is in Clarksville, Tennessee.
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High Prices, Blocked Port Keep Ukrainian Farmer from Selling Grain

Posted on by SeeEU

Victor Tsvyk harvested 4,800 tons of wheat this month. But after Russia exited a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to ship grain to the world, he has no idea where his produce will go. Or how his beloved farm will survive.

Tsvyk, who normally exports up to 90% of his harvest from the southern port of Odesa, faces a crisis: His yield is 20% higher compared with last year, which would have been a boon in times of peace. But in war, exorbitant logistics costs and Russia’s blockage of the ports has made shipping grain too expensive for him.

Tsvyk is one of thousands of Ukrainian farmers facing a similar dilemma.

“It’s too painful to talk about,” the 67-year-old said when asked how he envisions the future.

Last month, Russia pulled out of the deal that the U.N. and Turkey brokered to provide protection for ships carrying Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea. Moscow has since stepped up attacks on Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure while Ukraine has hit one of Russia’s own ports, leading wheat and corn prices to zigzag on global markets.

While countries worldwide press for a restoration of the grain deal and fighting intensifies in the Black Sea, Ukraine’s farmers are left wondering how they will stay in business and provide the food critical to people in nations struggling with hunger.

Tsvyk doesn’t know what he will do with his harvest or how he will keep paying his 77 workers.

“What could I feel in this situation?” he asked. “It is a great sorrow for everyone.”

Blocked port hinders sales

Tsvyk’s vast farm in Shurivka, 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Kyiv, produces not only wheat but also goat cheese and juices. Goats munch on hay, and workers toil around the clock, turning milk into cheese, kefir and yogurt drinks that are bottled and sold across Ukraine.

While four of Tsvyk’s employees have left to join the fight, the ones who remain have harvested and stored his wheat and are now seeding his many acres of land, preparing for the next season.

The tinge of uncertainty hangs heavy. Grain is the farm’s main source of income, and the now-blocked Odesa port was the key gateway to trade with the world.

Tsvyk’s products went as far as India and poverty-stricken countries in North Africa, he says. Now, with the only other options being more costly road, rail and river routes through Europe that have stirred pushback from neighboring countries, his grain will likely sit in storage depots, costing him tens of thousands of dollars in losses.

Last year, Tsvyk was left with 1,500 tons of grain he was unable to sell. This year, he is scared he may not be able to sell any.

Growing less risks less

It means many farmers are simply not planting as much: corn and wheat production in agriculture-dependent Ukraine is down nearly 40% this year from prewar levels, analysts say.

The soaring cost to transport wheat eroded Tsvyk’s income last year. Every step in the supply chain has increased in price because of the risks associated with the war, leading some farmers to turn to other products, such as sunflower oil, to squeeze out some profit.

Oleksandr Sivogorlo, Tsvyk’s trusted agronomist, said that profit or no profit, the land can’t be neglected.

“There are some limited routes [for export] through the Danube [River], but it’s very limited,” Sivogorlo said. Plus, Russia has targeted Ukrainian ports on the Danube, raising uncertainty about their use.

The farm is conducting barter schemes with suppliers, where some of their crop is exchanged for better fertilizer to produce higher-quality wheat next year, he said.

Tsvyk also will produce different products he knows he can sell without incurring exorbitant costs, such as sunflower and rapeseed oil, and lessen his reliance on grain exports.

“We cover our losses with these products,” Sivogorlo said. “And what will be with our wheat crops — hard to say at this point, it all depends on export.”

These are strategies Tsvyk has resorted to in times of desperation to keep the farm afloat. But he doesn’t expect to make a profit — breaking even is the best he can hope for.

Even that’s better than other farmers he knows who are losing money this year.
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Poland Showcases Military Might as War Rages in Neighboring Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

NATO member Poland staged a massive military parade on Tuesday to showcase its state-of-the-art weapons and defense systems, as war rages in neighboring Ukraine and ahead of parliamentary elections on October 15.

President Andrzej Duda, the chief commander of the armed forces, said in his opening speech that the protection of Poland’s eastern border is a key element of state policy. He also noted that Poland is supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s aggression of almost 18 months.

“The defense of our eastern border, the border of the European Union and of NATO is today a key element of Poland’s state interest,” Duda said.

Crowds waving national white-and-red flags gathered in scorching temperatures that reached 36 degrees Celsius to see U.S.-made Abrams tanks, HIMARS mobile artillery systems and Patriot missile systems.

Also on display were F-16 fighter planes, South Korean FA-50 fighters and K9 howitzers. A U.S. Air Force F-35 roared overhead, in a sign that Poland was also purchasing these advanced fighter planes.

Polish-made equipment including Krab tracked gun-howitzers and Rosomak armored transporters were also featured.

Some 2,000 troops, 200 vehicles and almost 100 aircraft took part in the parade. Poland’s armed forces have more than 175,000 troops, up from some 100,000 eight years ago, Duda said.

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland’s conservative government has focused on strengthening the armed forces and has spent more than $16 billion on tanks, missile interceptor systems and fighter jets, many purchased from the U.S. and South Korea.

Duda said Poland’s defense budget this year will be a record $34 billion, or some 4% of the gross domestic product, the highest proportion in all of NATO.

“The goal of this huge modernization is to equip Poland’s armed forces and create such a defense system that no one ever dares attack us, that Polish soldiers will never need to fight,” Duda said, while voicing his respect for the military.

Responding to criticism that Poland, a nation of some 37 million, was taking out huge loans to make the purchases, Duda said, “We cannot afford to be idle. This is why we are strengthening our armed forces here and now.

“The security of Poles is priceless,” he said.

Poland borders on the east with the Russian city of Kaliningrad; with Lithuania, a fellow NATO member; with Russia’s key ally Belarus and with Ukraine.

The parade was held in Poland’s capital, which was vastly destroyed during World War II, on the anniversary of the 1920 Battle of Warsaw, in which Polish troops defeated Bolshevik forces advancing on Europe.

The military upgrades have bolstered Poland’s defense capabilities, and some items replaced Soviet- and Russian-made equipment that Poland gave to Ukraine.

Poland is building one of Europe’s strongest armies to beef up deterrence against potential aggressors and has increased the number of troops to some 10,000 along its border with Belarus, where it has also built a wall to stop migrants arriving from that direction.

Showing off its military is also a way for Poland’s government to attract voter support ahead of October elections, in which the populist ruling Law and Justice Party will seek to win an unprecedented third term.
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Links Between Fracking and Health Cited in New Pennsylvania Study

Posted on by SeeUS

Researchers in heavily drilled Pennsylvania were preparing Tuesday to release findings from taxpayer-financed studies on possible links between the natural gas industry and pediatric cancer, asthma and poor birth outcomes.

The four-year, $2.5 million project is wrapping up after the state’s former governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, in 2019 agreed to commission it under pressure from the families of pediatric cancer patients who live amid the nation’s most prolific natural gas reservoir in western Pennsylvania.

A number of states have strengthened their laws around fracking and waste disposal over the past decade. However, researchers have repeatedly said that regulatory shortcomings leave an incomplete picture of the amount of toxic substances the industry emits into the air, injects into the ground or produces as waste.

The Pennsylvania-funded study involves University of Pittsburgh researchers and comes on the heels of other major studies that are finding higher rates of cancer, asthma, low birth weights and other afflictions among people who live near drilling fields around the country.

Tuesday evening’s public meeting to discuss the findings will be hosted by the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and the state Department of Health, on the campus of state-owned Pennsylvania Western University.

Edward Ketyer, a retired pediatrician who is president of the Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania and who sat on an advisory board for the study, said he expects that the studies will be consistent with previous research showing that the “closer you live to fracking activity, the increased risk you have at being sick with a variety of illnesses.”

“We’ve got enough evidence that associates, that links, that correlates fracking activity to poor health. And the biggest question is, why is anybody surprised about that?” Ketyer said.

The gas industry has maintained that fracking is safe, and industry groups in Pennsylvania supported Wolf’s initiative to get to the bottom of the pediatric cancer cases.

The study’s findings are emerging under new Governor Josh Shapiro, also a Democrat, whose administration has yet to publish or otherwise release the researchers’ reports since taking office earlier this year.

The advent of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, combined with horizontal drilling miles deep in the ground over the past two decades, transformed the United States into a worldwide oil and gas superpower.

But it also brought a torrent of complaints about water and air pollution, and diseases and ailments, as it encroached on exurbs and suburbs in states like Texas, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

One of the most enduring images of gas drilling pollution was residents in a northern Pennsylvania community lighting their tap water on fire.

A state grand jury investigation later found that a company had failed to fix its faulty gas wells, which leaked flammable methane into residential water supplies in surrounding communities.

The Pennsylvania-funded study comes on the heels of other major studies, such as one published last year by Harvard University researchers, who said they found evidence of higher death rates in more than 15 million Medicare beneficiaries who lived downwind of oil and gas wells in major exploration regions around the U.S.

Yale University researchers last year said they found that children in Pennsylvania living near an oil or gas wellsite had up to two to three times the odds of developing acute lymphocytic leukemia, a common type of cancer in children.

Establishing the cause of health problems is challenging, however. It can be difficult or impossible for researchers to determine exactly how much exposure people had to pollutants in air or water, and scientists often cannot rule out other contributing factors.

Because of that, environmental health researchers try to gather enough data to gauge risk and draw conclusions.

“The idea is we’re collecting evidence in some kind of a systematic way, and we’re looking at that evidence and judging whether causation is a reasonable interpretation to make,” said David Ozonoff, a retired environmental health professor who chaired the Department of Environmental Health at Boston University.

Another key piece of evidence is to identify an activity that exposes people to a chemical as part of assembling evidence that fits together in narrative, Ozonoff said.
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Google to Train 20,000 Nigerians in Digital Skills

Posted on by SeeUS

Google plans to train 20,000 Nigerian women and youth in digital skills and provide a grant of $1.6 million to help the government create 1 million digital jobs in the country, its Africa executives said on Tuesday. 

Nigeria plans to create digital jobs for its teeming youth population, Vice President Kashim Shettima told Google Africa executives during a meeting in Abuja. Shettima did not provide a timeline for creating the jobs. 

Google Africa executives said a grant from its philanthropic arm in partnership with Data Science Nigeria and the Creative Industry Initiative for Africa will facilitate the program. 

Shettima said Google’s initiative aligned with the government’s commitment to increase youth participation in the digital economy. The government is also working with the country’s banks on the project, Shettima added. 

Google director for West Africa Olumide Balogun said the company would commit funds and provide digital skills to women and young people in Nigeria and also enable startups to grow, which will create jobs. 

Google is committed to investing in digital infrastructure across Africa, Charles Murito, Google Africa’s director of government relations and public policy, said during the meeting, adding that digital transformation can be a job enabler. 
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