[Malawi has faced chronic food insecurity for years, but a 110% increase in maize prices from the previous year have made the situation worse. Chimwemwe Padatha has this report from the capital, Lilongwe. (Camera: Chimwemwe Padatha)
…
Month: September 2023
Ex-US Marine on Fighting in Donetsk: ’For Sure, I Was Going to Die’
American Bohdan Olinares was born in Ukraine and moved to the U.S. with his parents at age two, but when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he immediately joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A former U.S. Marine, he spent six months in Ukraine and was almost killed in the Donetsk region. Anna Rice narrates his story. VOA footage and video editing by Bogdan Osyka.
…
Military Leaders of 3 West African Countries Sign a Security Pact
The military leaders of three West African countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – signed a mutual defense pact deal over the weekend.
The junta leaders signed the Liptako-Gourma Charter, establishing the Alliance of Sahel States. The pact is named after the region where the three country’s borders meet.
Col. Assimi Goita, Mali’s junta leader, said in a statement, “I signed today with the heads of state of Burkina Faso and Niger the Liptako-Gourma Charter, establishing the Alliance of Sahel States with the objective of establishing an architecture of collective defense and assistance mutual for the benefit of our populations.”
The new pact calls for the three neighboring countries to come to the defense of each other.
All three are facing threats from jihadists.
Each of the countries has undergone coups since 2020.
…
Development Goals in Focus as Leaders Gather for UN Meetings
The U.N. General Assembly brings world leaders together in New York this week, with meetings Monday focusing on accelerating efforts to achieve worldwide development goals.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said ahead of Monday’s session that only 15% of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are on track to be reached by 2030.
“Monday’s SDG Summit will be the moment for governments to come to the table with concrete plans and proposals to accelerate progress,” Guterres said.
The goals include ending poverty, ending hunger, ensuring access to affordable energy, taking urgent action to combat climate change, and promoting gender equality.
A July report said climate crisis impacts, lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and a weak global economy have hurt progress toward reaching the development goals.
U.S. President Joe Biden is among the presidents, prime ministers and monarchs from 145 nations schedule to speak at the General Assembly session, which begins Tuesday. Biden is due to give his address Tuesday, as is Guterres.
The leaders of Britain, China, France and Russia are not attending, with lower-ranking ministers representing their countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to address the meeting Tuesday, and to attend a meeting of the U.N. Security Council Wednesday.
Guterres said he will tell the leaders that this is not a time for “posturing or positioning.”
“This is a time to come together for real, practical solutions,” Guterres said. “It is time for compromise for a better tomorrow.”
Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
…
Tens of Thousands March in New York City to Kick Off Climate Summit
Yelling that the future and their lives depend on ending fossil fuels, tens of thousands of protesters on Sunday kicked off a week where leaders will try once again to curb climate change primarily caused by coal, oil and natural gas.
But protesters say it’s not going to be enough. And they aimed their wrath directly at U.S. President Joe Biden, urging him to stop approving new oil and gas projects, phase out current ones and declare a climate emergency with larger executive powers.
“We hold the power of the people, the power you need to win this election,” said 17-year-old Emma Buretta of Brooklyn of the youth protest group Fridays for Future. “If you want to win in 2024, if you do not want the blood of my generation to be on your hands, end fossil fuels.”
The March to End Fossil Fuels featured such politicians as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and actors Susan Sarandon, Ethan Hawke, Edward Norton, Kyra Sedgewick and Kevin Bacon. But the real action on Broadway was where protesters crowded the street, pleading for a better but not-so-hot future. It was the opening salvo to New York’s Climate Week, where world leaders in business, politics and the arts gather to try to save the planet, highlighted by a new special United Nations summit Wednesday.
Many of the leaders of countries that cause the most heat-trapping carbon pollution will not be in attendance. And they won’t speak at the summit organized by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a way that only countries that promise new concrete action are invited to speak.
Organizers estimated 75,000 people marched Sunday.
“We have people all across the world in the streets, showing up, demanding a cessation of what is killing us,” Ocasio-Cortez told a cheering crowd. “We have to send a message that some of us are going to be living on, on this planet 30, 40, 50 years from now. And we will not take no for an answer.”
This protest was far more focused on fossil fuels and the industry than previous marches. Sunday’s rally attracted a large chunk, 15%, of first-time protesters and was overwhelmingly female, said American University sociologist Dana Fisher, who studies environmental movements and was surveying march participants.
Of the people Fisher talked to, 86% had experienced extreme heat recently, 21% floods and 18% severe drought, she said. They mostly reported feeling sad and angry. Earth has just gone through the hottest summer on record.
Among the marchers was 8-year-old Athena Wilson from Boca Raton, Florida. She and her mother, Maleah, flew from Florida for Sunday’s protest.
“Because we care about our planet,” Athena said. “I really want the Earth to feel better.”
People in the South, especially where the oil industry is, and the global south, “have not felt heard,” said 23-year-old Alexandria Gordon, originally from Houston. “It is frustrating.”
Protest organizers emphasized how let down they felt that Biden, who many of them supported in 2020, has overseen increased drilling for oil and fossil fuels.
“President Biden, our lives depend on your actions today,” said Louisiana environmental activist Sharon Lavigne. “If you don’t stop fossil fuels our blood is on your hands.”
Nearly one-third of the world’s planned drilling for oil and gas between now and 2050 is by U.S. interests, environmental activists calculate. Over the past 100 years, the United States has put more heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than any other country, though China now emits more carbon pollution on an annual basis.
“You need to phase out fossil fuels to survive our planet,” said Jean Su, a march organizer and energy justice director for the Center for Biological Diversity.
Marchers and speakers spoke of increasing urgency and fear of the future. The actress known as V, formerly Eve Ensler, premiered the anthem “Panic” from her new climate change oriented musical scheduled for next year. The chorus goes: “We want you to panic. We want you to act. You stole our future and we want it back.”
Signs included “Even Santa Knows Coal is Bad” and “Fossil fuels are killing us” and “I want a fossil free future” and “keep it in the ground.”
That’s because leaders don’t want to acknowledge “the elephant in the room,” said Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate. “The elephant is that fossil fuels are responsible for the crisis. We can’t eat coal. We can’t drink oil, and we can’t have any new fossil fuel investments.”
But oil and gas industry officials said their products are vital to the economy.
“We share the urgency of confronting climate change together without delay; yet doing so by eliminating America’s energy options is the wrong approach and would leave American families and businesses beholden to unstable foreign regions for higher cost and far less reliable energy,” said American Petroleum Institute Senior Vice President Megan Bloomgren.
Activists weren’t having any of that.
“The fossil fuel industry is choosing to rule and conquer and take and take and take without limit,” Rabbi Stephanie Kolin of Congregation Beth Elohim of Brooklyn said. “And so waters are rising and the skies are turning orange (from wildfire smoke) and the heat is taking lives. But you Mr. President can choose the other path, to be a protector of this Earth.”
…
Armed Men Seize 2 Army Camps in Northern Mali: Officials
Armed men on Sunday took over two military camps in northern Mali, two elected officials told AFP, with a spokesman for an alliance of predominantly Tuareg armed groups claiming the attack.
The Malian military confirmed on social networks that the town of Lere, in the Timbuktu Region of northern Mali, had been attacked on Sunday.
A Malian military official told AFP it was “in the process of dealing with the situation.”
“Armed men attacked the two (military) camps in the town of Lere on Sunday,” an elected official from the town told AFP.
“After fighting, the armed men took the camps. We are waiting for reinforcement from the army, but for the moment it is the armed men who hold the camps,” he added.
An official from the administrative region also said armed men had attacked the two camps and continued to hold them.
He said there had been deaths but could not provide a toll.
Almou Ag Mohamed, a spokesman for the Coordination of Azawad Movements, an alliance of armed separatist groups dominated by Tuaregs, claimed the attack.
“We attacked and took control of the two military camps in the town of Lere this Sunday,” he told AFP. “The camps are under our control. We shot down an army plane.”
Rebellion revived
Officials have said the assailants have not yet been formally identified.
The successionist groups in 2012 launched a rebellion before signing a peace agreement with the state in 2015. But that accord is now generally considered moribund.
This month has seen a resumption of hostilities by the groups.
On Tuesday, the groups launched an offensive against army positions in the garrison town of Bourem, which the military said it had repelled.
The two sides provided contradictory reports of events, but both reported dozens of deaths.
The renewed military activity by the separatists has coincided with a series of attacks attributed mainly to the al-Qaida-linked jihadist alliance Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM).
In August, GSIM announced it was declaring “war in the Timbuktu region.”
In a separate incident on Sunday, two soldiers were killed and one injured in an ambush near the village of Akor in western Mali, the intelligence services said.
That attack took place on a supply mission returning from the town of Guire, it said, adding that four attackers had also been killed.
On Saturday, junta leader Assimi Goita signed a mutual defense pact with his Nigerien and Burkinabe counterparts establishing a military alliance and pledging to assist one another in the event of an attack on their sovereignty or territorial integrity.
…
First 2 Cargo Ships Arrive at Ukrainian Port Since Russia Pulled Out of Grain Deal
Two cargo ships arrived at one of Ukraine’s ports over the weekend, using a temporary Black Sea corridor established by Kyiv following Russia’s withdrawal from a wartime agreement designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.
Two Palau-flagged bulk carriers, Aroyat and Resilient Africa, docked Saturday at the seaport of Chornomorsk in the southern Odesa region, according to an online statement by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. The vessels are the first civilian cargo ships to reach one of the Odesa ports since Russia exited the grain deal.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said in an online statement Saturday that the two ships will be delivering some 20,000 tons of wheat to countries in Africa and Asia.
For months, Ukraine, whose economy is heavily dependent on farming, was able to safely export its grain from Black Sea ports under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to ensure safe shipments. But Russia withdrew from the deal on July 17, with Kremlin officials arguing their demands for the facilitation of Russian food and fertilizer shipments had not been met.
Following the withdrawal, the Russian defense ministry said it would regard any vessels in the Black Sea headed to Ukrainian ports as military targets.
Since then, Kyiv has sought to reroute transport through the Danube River, and road and rail links into Europe. But transport costs that way are much higher. Some European countries have balked at the consequential local grain prices, and the Danube ports can’t handle the same volume as seaports.
The interim corridor in the Black Sea, which Kyiv has asked the International Maritime Organization to ratify, was opened on Aug. 10 as United States and Ukrainian officials warned of possible Russian attacks on civilian vessels. Sea mines also make the voyage risky, and ship insurance costs are likely to be high for operators.
Ukrainian officials said the corridor will be primarily used to evacuate ships stuck in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi since the war broke out. Kubrakov said Saturday that five vessels have since used the corridor to leave Ukrainian ports.
After tearing up the grain deal, Russia intensified attacks on the southern Odesa region, targeting its port infrastructure and grain silos with missiles and drones.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Air Force Command reported another attack overnight in which the Odesa region was the main target. Russian forces fired 10 cruise missiles and six Iranian-made Shahed drones, the statement said. All drones and six missiles were downed, while the rest hit an agricultural facility in the Odesa region.
…
Crash Kills 4 Rescue Workers Dispatched to Libya
Four Greek rescue workers dispatched to Libya following devastating flooding in the eastern city of Derna were killed in a road collision Sunday, Libya’s health minister said.
Some 11,300 people died when two dams collapsed during Mediterranean storm Daniel last week sending a wall of water gushing through the city, according to the Red Crescent aid group. A further 10,000 people are missing, and presumed dead.
Rescue workers from Greece, Turkey, Egypt and other countries have flocked to the decimated port city to offer help.
On Sunday, a bus carrying 19 Greek rescue workers collided with a vehicle carrying five Libyan nationals on the road between the cities of Benghazi and Derna, health minister Othman Abduljaleel said at a news conference. Three Libyans in the oncoming vehicle were also killed.
Seven of the surviving Greek rescue workers were in critical condition, the minister said.
In a parallel statement, the Greek Foreign Ministry acknowledged the crash but said only three of its nationals had died while two others were missing. The Associated Press was not immediately able to reconcile the conflicting reports.
The disaster has brought some rare unity to oil-rich Libya, which has been divided between rival governments in the country’s east and west that are backed by various militia forces and international patrons. Residents from the nearby cities of Benghazi and Tobruk have offered to put up the displaced, while volunteers have helped hunt for survivors buried beneath the rubble.
But the opposing governments have struggled to respond to the crisis. Their recovery efforts have been hampered by confusion, difficulty getting aid to the hardest-hit areas, and the destruction of Derna’s infrastructure, including several bridges.
More than 3,283 bodies were buried as of Sunday, Abduljaleel said, many in mass graves outside Derna, while others were transferred to nearby towns and cities.
…
Analysts: Sudan War Could Impact South Sudan’s Transition to Democracy
South Sudanese people are fleeing Sudan’s war for their home country, and the United Nations and analysts say the move could trigger intercommunal violence and endanger the country’s transition to democracy. From Renk, South Sudan, reporter Henry Wilkins talks to returnees about their uncertain futures and to analysts about potential effects.
…
US Auto Workers Remain on Strike, Demanding Better Pay
The United Auto Workers’ strike against the three biggest U.S. automakers reached into its third day on Sunday with no resolution in sight, although union negotiations with General Motors were set to resume.
About 12,700 UAW workers were on strike at three factories, one each owned by Ford, Stellantis, and GM, in the most significant U.S. industrial labor action in decades. It was the first time the UAW union had gone on strike simultaneously against all three automakers.
The union and the companies appear far apart in settling on a new pact, with the automakers offering raises of about 20% over a 4½-year contract proposal, including an immediate 10% raise. The unions are demanding a 40% increase.
UAW President Shawn Fain told MSNBC on Sunday that progress in the talks has been slow. Union talks with Stellantis and Ford were set to resume on Monday.
“I don’t really want to say we’re closer,” he said. “It’s a shame that the companies didn’t take our advice and get down to business from the beginning of bargaining back in mid-July.”
Asked in a subsequent appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” show whether workers would walk out at more plants this week, Fain said the union was “prepared to do whatever we have to do.”
U.S. President Joe Biden, who has signaled support for the union’s efforts, dispatched acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and economic adviser Gene Sperling to Detroit, the hub of the U.S. auto industry, to speak to the UAW and the automakers.
…
Chechen Strongman Kadyrov Appears in New Video Amid Rumors of Ill Health
Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Sunday released new video footage in which he smiled and recommended everyone practice sport, in an apparent move to quash speculation about his ill health.
Speculation has swirled for months that the hugely influential 46-year-old head of Chechnya accused by rights groups of running a “totalitarian regime” might be ill.
On Sunday, two videos appeared on Kadyrov’s Telegram channel.
Wearing a raincoat, he was seen in the first video strolling in an unidentified location. He smiled but his face appeared puffy.
In the second video he was heard speaking Chechen and then saying in Russian, “Practice sport.”
“I strongly recommend that everyone who cannot distinguish the truth from lies on the internet go for a walk, get some fresh air and put their thoughts in order,” said the words accompanying the videos. “The rain can be wonderfully invigorating.”
It was not possible to immediately establish when the videos were recorded but the footage was published following unconfirmed reports on social media that the Chechen leader was in a coma.
Kadyrov has been one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine and his battalions have fought alongside regular Russian forces there.
The former rebel warlord turned Kremlin ally has long referred to himself as Vladimir Putin’s “footsoldier.”
Elected president of Chechnya in 2007, Kadyrov has ruled majority-Muslim Chechnya with widespread evidence of extra-judicial killings and torture of his opponents.
…
Real Estate Expansion Drives Kenyan Farmers to Abandon Coffee Cultivation
The International Coffee Organization says Kenya is the fifth-largest coffee producer in Africa. But like farmers elsewhere, Kenya’s coffee growers are being squeezed by climate change, price fluctuations and now a real estate boom. Francis Ontomwa reports from Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Camera and video editing by Amos Wangwa.
…
House Impeachment Inquiry Looms Over Spending Battle on Capitol Hill
President Joe Biden says he’s “focused on the things the American people want” and not political theater following a week in which the House of Representatives opened an impeachment inquiry into allegations that he had benefited from his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings. Democrats call it a distraction. All this comes as lawmakers must strike a deal with Biden to keep the government open past a September 30 funding deadline. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
…
‘Nun 2’ Narrowly Edges ‘A Haunting in Venice’ Over Quiet Weekend in Movie Theaters
“The Nun 2” and “A Haunting in Venice” virtually tied for the No. 1 spot in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend, with a slight edge carrying the horror sequel over the Hercule Poirot mystery, according to studio estimates Sunday.
In its second weekend of release, Warner Bros.’ “The Nun 2,” a spinoff from the studio’s lucrative “Conjuring” franchise, grossed $14.7 million. If numbers hold, that will give “The Nun 2” (up to $56.5 million total and $158.8 million worldwide) the top spot at the box office for the second straight week.
Very close behind was “A Haunting in Venice,” Kenneth Branagh’s third Agatha Christie adaptation following 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and 2022’s “Death on the Nile.” It opened with $14.5 million.
Final box-office figures will be released Monday.
After the successful run of “Murder on the Orient Express” ($352.8 million worldwide against a production budget of $55 million) and the less-stellar global haul of “Death on the Nile” ($137.3 million against a $90 million budget), the sluggish start for “A Haunting in Venice” may have signaled the death knell for Branagh’s detective.
The 20th Century Studios film, released by the Walt Disney Co., grossed $22.7 million internationally. And it cost less than its predecessor, carrying a production budget of about $60 million.
“The Equalizer 3,” starring Denzel Washington, dropped to third place with $7.2 million. In three weeks, it grossed $73.7 million domestically and $132.4 million worldwide. Fourth place went to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” with $4.7 million in its second weekend of release. It’s grossed $18.5 million domestically.
It was one of the quietest weekends in movie theaters this year, as Hollywood — which has spent much of the last two weeks promoting its films at the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals — treads water in between the summer smashes of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” and awaits its top fall movies. Some of those, like “Dune: Part Two,” have already been postponed until next year due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.
One anticipated fall film, Sony’s “Dumb Money,” opted for a platform release, debuting in eight theaters over the weekend before expanding next weekend and going wide Sept. 29. The film, a rollicking dramatization of the GameStop stock frenzy, grossed $217,000, for a per-location average of about $27,000.
And “Barbie” also remains in the picture. For the ninth straight weekend, Greta Gerwig’s box-office sensation ranked in the top five films. It added $4 million to bring its domestic total to $625 million and its global haul to $1.42 billion. Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” has reached $912.7 million, making it the highest grossing biopic ever, passing “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
-
“The Nun II,” $14.7 million.
-
“A Haunting in Venice,” $14.5 million.
-
“The Equalizer 3,” $7.2 million.
-
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” $4.7million.
-
“Barbie,” $4 million.
-
“Jawan,” $2.5 million.
-
“Blue Beetle,” $2.5 million.
-
“Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story,” $2.4 million.
-
“Oppenheimer,” $2.1 million.
-
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” $2 million.
…
Netanyahu to Meet Musk Amid Anti-Semitism Controversy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will touch down in California on Monday to meet with Elon Musk. The talks come as civil rights groups accuse the X owner of amplifying anti-Semitism, an allegation he denies.
When Musk purchased Twitter, now called X, for $44 billion last year, he vowed to turn the site into a haven for free expression. He envisioned a virtual community without stringent user guidelines.
But his overhaul plan ran into turbulence early on, when he laid off thousands of employees, including some of his content moderators. The Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, accused Musk of enabling “purveyors of lies and conspiracies” after he reinstated many previously banned profiles–those belonging to white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and Holocaust deniers among them.
In a recent post, Musk revealed that X’s ad revenue has dropped by 60% in the U.S. He blamed pressure from ADL, saying the organization “was almost successful in killing X/Twitter!” he wrote.
“The fact is, who would want to sponsor a platform that is looking very likely to cause real-world violence against [Jewish people]?” Claire Atkin, co-founder of the adtech watchdog Check My Ads, told VOA.
In a separate tweet, Musk said “To clear our platform’s name on the matter of anti-Semitism, it looks like we have no choice but to file a defamation lawsuit against the Anti-Defamation League.” “Oh, the irony” he added.
“[The legal threats] are retaliatory and indicate that he is losing and panicking,” Atkins, the adtech expert, said. “Musk is looking for someone to blame for his own actions.”
Last month, Musk sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate, or CCDH, a British advocacy group. Days ago, CCDH released its latest findings: In an audit of 300 prejudiced tweets flagged for hate speech, only 14% of them were taken down within a week.
Musk lambasted CCDH in May for its “utterly false” reporting. He said that, in reality, “hate speech impressions,” or how many views bigoted posts garner, “continue to decline [on X].” How he reached that conclusion, though, is unclear.
Musk’s CEO Linda Yaccarino has emphasized building a rapport with civil rights groups and has said the platform is working to combat antisemitism.
But in August, Musk liked posts under #BanTheADL, a hashtag popularized by extremists like Nick Fuentes. By the end of the month, #BanTheADL ranked among X’s top trending topics.
The ADL, CCDH, and others used to research hate speech on the site using large-language models, or LLMs, which are AI-powered tools capable of combing vast databases for fine-tuned results.
Researchers say recent updates to X’s software interface block full access to data without a subscription to an enterprise account which starts at $42,000 per month. Outpriced researchers must rely on smaller sample sizes, which are inherently less accurate than LLM analyses.
The Monday evening talks with Netanyahu come a few months after Musk likened liberal-leaning philanthropist George Soros to a Jewish comic book supervillain.
Baseless antisemitic conspiracy theories have made the rounds of X saying Soros, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, is the linchpin of a hidden global elite bent on overthrowing the world.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused Musk of legitimizing harmful tropes, saying his comparison “reeked of anti-Semitism.” But Netanyahu’s government minister for addressing anti-Jewish hatred went out of his way to rally for Musk.
Netanyahu spoke by phone with Musk in June, in an effort to help the Silicon Valley mogul to rebound from criticism over his “supervillain” remark. Since then, Musk has enlisted an entourage of prominent Jewish businessmen, including confidant and multimillionaire Joe Lonsdale, to speak out on his behalf. They reached out to the ADL in recent weeks hoping to cool tensions.
Netanyahu has touted his connections in Big Tech as pivotal to growing Israel into a “start-up nation.” He and Musk are expected to discuss AI before the prime minister jets off to meet President Joe Biden at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
Offir Gutelzon, an Israeli-American tech entrepreneur and activist, says he plans to lead a nearby demonstration while the meeting takes place. His protest sign will read, “Shame on Netanyahu.”
…
Al-Shabab Attacks Ethiopian Military Convoys in Somalia
Al-Shabab militants attacked convoys carrying Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia’s southwestern Bakool region early Sunday, Somali officials said.
The ambush targeted two convoys, one traveling from the Somali town of Yeed to Wajid and the second convoy as it traveled from El Barde to the town of Huddur. Ethiopian troops have bases in Wajid and Huddur.
A Somali official said local forces were accompanying the convoy that was en route to Huddur from El Barde.
The mayor of Huddur, Omar Abdullahi Mohamud, told VOA Somali that the fighting started after the al-Shabab ambushes.
“The fighting started after the anti-peace elements attacked the Ethiopian and Somali military convoy moving towards Wajid and Huddur, starting off their attack with explosion,” Mohamud said. “The troops have repulsed, and the situation is calm.”
Mohamud claimed the militants lost as many as 50 fighters.
A senior Somali regional official who asked not to be identified told VOA Somali that the more intense ambush targeted Ethiopian troops escorting military supplies to Ethiopian soldiers in Wajid.
He said when that convoy left the town of Yeed on Saturday, it spent the night near the village of Booco, about 40 kilometers north of Wajid.
“At dawn the convoy resumed its journey towards Wajid but were ambushed by al-Shabab,” he said.
“We heard two vehicles were hit by explosions.”
He said the fighting lasted for hours.
Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the ambush. Al-Shabab in a statement claimed it killed 167 Ethiopian soldiers, destroyed military vehicles, and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition. Casualty figures given by both sides have not been independently verified.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s ambassador to Somalia, Mukhtar Mohamed Ware told VOA he saw al-Shabab’s claim on social media and described it as “propaganda.”
“They may try [to attack Ethiopian forces] but they cannot even fire for more than 10 minutes against Ethiopian defenses’ forces,” he said.
“This is a professional army; it’s a very well equipped, very well organized, it’s always hitting hard when it comes to al-Shabab, so this is a mere propaganda; it’s not more than a propaganda against Ethiopia and against Ethiopian defense forces.”
He rejected al-Shabab’s statement, which labeled Ethiopian troops as “crusaders.”
“We are not crusaders; we are there under the African Union and international community decisions to support legitimate government of Somalia in its effort to establish peace in this country. So, this is a mere propaganda blown by al-Shabab that is commonly known.”
Ethiopia has thousands of troops in Somalia serving as part of the African Union Transition Mission, or ATMIS, and other forces in Somalia that are there based on arrangements with the government in Mogadishu.
A security source told VOA the ambushed troops were not part of ATMIS.
“The ambush is true, the incident was bad, but the numbers given by al-Shabab have been exaggerated,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Somali officials have reported that government troops have captured the main town of Ba’adweyne and the three smaller villages of Qodqod, Qay’ad, and Shabelow.
Local forces commander Mohamed Nur Ali Gadaar told VOA that al-Shabab fled Ba’adweyne and two of the villages after a brief firefight on Sunday. Government troops supported by local fighters are now heading toward a fourth town, Amaara, in Galmudug state, he said.
The Somali government also reported conducting an operation in collaboration with “international partners” near the village of Ali Foldhere in the Middle Shabelle region on Saturday and Sunday against al-Shabab militants who have been trying to cross a river.
The role of international partners in the ongoing operations has been limited to airstrikes against al-Shabab fighters and vehicles.
Abdiwahid Moalin Isak contributed to this report.
…
Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate Spray-Painted by Climate Activists
Climate activists sprayed orange and yellow paint on the columns of Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate on Sunday to push demands for a stop to the use of fossil fuels by 2030.
“Members of the so-called ‘Last Generation’ sprayed the columns on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate with orange paint from fire extinguishers during the morning,” Berlin police said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
It added that police officers noticed a hydraulic lift was being operated at the gate and they kept the protesters from scaling the landmark building. They arrested all 14 protesters at the site and launched an investigation into property damage.
The Last Generation, a Germany-based group within the Europe-wide A22 network that includes Britain’s Just Stop Oil, has made headlines in Germany with hundreds of road blocks by protesters who glued themselves to the tarmac.
Their action has triggered a law-enforcement crackdown by Germany’s federal states.
The Last Generation posted pictures of the spray-painting on X.
“We will not stop our protest unless a pivot is initiated. We have to exit oil, natural gas and coal by 2030 at the latest,” it said.
Germany aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2045, but it missed annual targets for the last two years.
…
European Leaders Visit Lampedusa
European Union Commision President Ursula von de Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni toured a migrant center Sunday on the small Italian island of Lampedusa.
The center was recently overwhelmed with almost 7,000 migrants in a 24-hour period, a total that is nearly equivalent to the number of people who live on the island.
Residents of Italy’s southernmost island say they are frustrated with the steady stream of arrivals on their tiny island.
The island has struggled for years to manage the arrivals.
Lampedusa is less than 160 kilometers from Tunisia, making it a logical first stop for the migrants who are looking for a better life in Europe and elsewhere.
Many make the journey in rickety boats and they are often rescued by the coast guard. Many do not survive the journey. The latest victim was a 5-month-old baby, officials say.
Meloni, who was elected last year, promised to end the mass migrations.
Television footage of the politicians’ trip to the island showed them talking to residents.
Italy’s right-wing government recently allocated close to $50 million to help Lampedusa manage the massive influx of migrants. Some residents say that sum is not enough.
…
Central Khartoum in Flames as War Rages Across Sudan
Flames gripped the Sudanese capital Sunday and paramilitary forces attacked the army headquarters for the second day in a row, witnesses reported, as fighting raged into its six month.
“Clashes are now happening around the army headquarters with various types of weapons,” witnesses told AFP Sunday from Khartoum, while others reported fighting in the city of El-Obeid, 350 kilometers (about 220 miles) south.
Battles between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces intensified Saturday, resulting in several key buildings in central Khartoum being set alight.
In social media posts verified by AFP, users shared footage of flames devouring landmarks of the Khartoum skyline, including the Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company Tower — a conical building with glass facades that had become an emblem of the city.
Users mourned Khartoum, a shell of its former self, in posts that showed buildings — their windows blown out and their walls charred or pockmarked with bullets — continuing to smolder.
Since war erupted on April 15 between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, nearly 7,500 people have been killed, according to a conservative estimate from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
It has displaced more than five million people, including 2.8 million who have fled the relentless air strikes, artillery fire and street battles in Khartoum’s densely-populated neighborhoods.
The millions that remain in the city woke up Sunday to find clouds of smoke obscuring the skyline, as the sound of bombs and gunfire burst through the capital.
“We can hear huge bangs,” witnesses told AFP Sunday from the Mayo district of southern Khartoum, where the army targeted RSF bases with artillery fire.
At least 51 people were killed last week in air strikes on a market in Mayo, according to the United Nations, in one of the deadliest single attacks of the war.
The worst of the violence has been concentrated in Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, where ethnically-motivated attacks by the RSF and allied militias have triggered renewed investigations by the International Criminal Court into possible war crimes.
There has also been fighting in the southern Kordofan region, where witnesses again reported on Sunday artillery fire exchanged between the army and the RSF in the city of El-Obeid.
…
Stoltenberg: ‘We Must Prepare Ourselves for a Long War in Ukraine
“We must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine,” NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with Germany’s Funke media group published Sunday.
“Most wars last longer than expected when they first begin,” he said.
“We are all wishing for a quick peace,” Stoltenberg said, “but at the same time, we must recognize if [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians stop fighting, their country will no longer exist.”
Meanwhile, Russia targeted Ukraine’s Odesa region early Sunday with a combined drone and missile attack, hitting an agricultural facility, Ukraine’s Air Forces said on the Telegram messaging app.
The extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
Also Sunday, Ukraine launched a drone attack on Crimea and Moscow.
A regional Crimean official said a drone hit a fuel tank, causing a fire that was extinguished.
The drones over Moscow interfered with air traffic over the capital.
The British Defense Ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russia is “likely” reinforcing its defenses around the occupied town of Tokmak in southern Ukraine.
The town is 16 kilometers from the front line and Tokmak is being outfitted to become a “lynchpin” of Russia’s second main line of defenses.
Attention to the town’s defenses “likely indicates Russia’s growing concern about Ukrainian tactical penetrations of the main defensive line to the north.”
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
…
Beer Flows, Crowds Descend on Munich for Oktoberfest
The beer is flowing and millions of people are descending on the Bavarian capital to celebrate the official opening of Oktoberfest.
With the traditional cry of “O’zapft is” — “It’s tapped” — Mayor Dieter Reiter inserted the tap in the first keg at noon on Saturday, officially opening the 18 days of festivities.
Revelers decked out in traditional lederhosen and dirndl dresses trooped to Munich’s festival grounds Saturday morning, filling the dozens of traditional tents in anticipation of getting their first 1-liter mug of beer.
Minutes before the first keg was tapped, to cheers from the crowd, Bavarian Gov. Markus Soeder asked festivalgoers if they were ready for Oktoberfest to begin.
“I can only say one thing: This is the most beautiful, biggest, most important festival in the world,” he said.
The Oktoberfest has typically drawn about 6 million visitors every year. The event was skipped in 2020 and 2021 as authorities grappled with COVID-19, but it returned in 2022.
A 1-liter mug costs between 12.60 euros and 14.90 euros ($13.45 to $15.90) this year, an increase of around 6% from last year.
This year’s Oktoberfest, the 188th edition, runs through Oct. 3.
…
Libya’s Flooding Death Toll Soars to 11,300
The death toll in Libya’s coastal city of Derna has soared to 11,300 as search efforts continue following a massive flood fed by the breaching of two dams in heavy rains, the Libyan Red Crescent said Thursday.
Marie el-Drese, the aid group’s secretary-general, told The Associated Press by phone that a further 10,100 people are reported missing in the Mediterranean city. Health authorities previously put the death toll in Derna at 5,500. The storm also killed about 170 people elsewhere in the country.
The flooding swept away entire families in Derna on Sunday night and exposed vulnerabilities in the oil-rich country that has been mired in conflict since a 2011 uprising that toppled long-ruling dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Here’s a look at where things stand:
What happened in Libya? Daniel, an unusually strong Mediterranean storm, caused deadly flooding in communities across eastern Libya, but the worst-hit was Derna. As the storm pounded the coast Sunday night, residents said they heard loud explosions when two dams outside the city collapsed. Floodwaters gushed down Wadi Derna, a valley that cuts through the city, crashing through buildings and washing people out to sea.
A U.N. official said Thursday that most casualties could have been avoided.
“If there would have been a normal operating meteorological service, they could have issued the warnings,” World Meteorological Organization head Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva. “The emergency management authorities would have been able to carry out the evacuation.”
The WMO said earlier this week that the National Meteorological Center issued warnings 72 hours before the flooding, notifying all governmental authorities by email and through media.
Officials in eastern Libya warned the public about the coming storm, and on Saturday, they ordered residents to evacuate coastal areas, fearing a surge from the sea. But there was no warning about the dams collapsing.
How does conflict in Libya affect the disaster? The startling devastation reflected the storm’s intensity, but also Libya’s vulnerability. Oil-rich Libya has been divided between rival governments for most of the past decade — one in the east, the other in the capital, Tripoli — and one result has been the widespread neglect of infrastructure.
The two dams that collapsed outside Derna were built in the 1970s. A report by a state-run audit agency in 2021 said the dams had not been maintained despite the allocation of more than 2 million euros for that purpose in 2012 and 2013.
Libya’s Tripoli-based prime minister, Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, acknowledged the maintenance issues during a Cabinet meeting Thursday and called on the Public Prosecutor to open an urgent investigation into the dams’ collapse.
The disaster brought a rare moment of unity, as government agencies across the country rushed to help the affected areas.
While the Tobruk-based government of eastern Libya is leading relief efforts, the Tripoli-based western government allocated the equivalent of $412 million for reconstruction in Derna and other eastern towns, and an armed group in Tripoli sent a convoy with humanitarian aid.
What’s happening now? Derna has begun burying its dead, mostly in mass graves, said eastern Libya’s health minister, Othman Abduljaleel on Thursday.
More than 3,000 bodies were buried by Thursday morning, the minister said, while another 2,000 were still being processed, He said most of the dead were buried in mass graves outside Derna, while others were transferred to nearby towns and cities.
Abduljaleel said rescue teams were still searching wrecked buildings in the city center, and divers were combing the sea off Derna.
Untold numbers could be buried under drifts of mud and debris, including overturned cars and chunks of concrete, that rise up to 4 meters high. Rescuers have struggled to bring in heavy equipment as the floods washed out or blocked roads leading to the area.
Libya’s eastern based parliament, The House of Representatives, on Thursday approved an emergency budget of 10 billion Libyan dinars — roughly $2 billion — to address the flooding and help those affected.
How many people have been killed?
As of Thursday, the Libyan Red Crescent said that 11,300 people have been killed, and a further 10,100 are reported missing.
However, local officials suggested that the death toll could be much higher than announced.
In comments to the Saudi-owned Al Arabia television station on Thursday, Derna Mayor Abdel-Moneim al-Ghaithi said the tally could climb to 20,000 given the number of neighborhoods that were washed out.
The storm also killed around 170 people in other parts of eastern Libya, including the towns of Bayda, Susa, Um Razaz and Marj, the health minister said.
The dead in eastern Libya included at least 84 Egyptians, whose remains were transferred to their home country on Wednesday. More than 70 came from one village in the southern province of Beni Suef. Libyan media also said dozens of Sudanese migrants were killed in the disaster.
Is help reaching survivors? The floods have displaced at least 30,000 people in Derna, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, and several thousand others were forced to leave their homes in other eastern towns, it said.
The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to Derna, hampering the arrival of international rescue teams and humanitarian assistance. Local authorities were able to clear some routes, and humanitarian convoys have been able to enter the city over the past couple of days.
The U.N. humanitarian office issued an emergency appeal for $71.4 million to respond to urgent needs of 250,000 Libyans most affected. The office, known as OCHA, estimated that approximately 884,000 people in five provinces live in areas directly affected by the rain and flooding.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it has provided 6,000 body bags to local authorities, as well as medical, food and other supplies distributed to hard-hit communities.
International aid started to arrive earlier this week in Benghazi, 250 kilometers west of Derna. Several countries have sent aid and rescue teams, including neighboring Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia.
Italy dispatched a naval vessel on Thursday carrying humanitarian aid and two navy helicopters to be used for search and rescue operations.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States would send money to relief organizations and coordinate with Libyan authorities and the United Nations to provide additional support.
…
Families Challenge North Dakota’s Ban on Gender-Affirming Care for Children
Families and a pediatrician are challenging North Dakota’s law criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors, the latest lawsuit in many states with similar bans.
Gender Justice on Thursday announced the state district court lawsuit in a news conference at the state Capitol in Bismarck. The lawsuit against the state attorney general and state’s attorneys of three counties seeks to immediately block the ban, which took effect in April, and to have a judge find it unconstitutional and stop the state from enforcing it.
State lawmakers “have outlawed essential health care for these kids simply and exclusively because they are transgender,” Gender Justice attorney and North Dakota state director Christina Sambor told reporters. “They have stripped parents of their right to decide for themselves what’s best for their own children. They have made it a criminal offense for doctors to provide health care that can literally save children’s lives.”
The bill that enacted the ban passed overwhelmingly earlier this year in North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who is running for president, signed the ban into law in April. It took effect immediately.
“Going forward, thoughtful debate around these complex medical policies should demonstrate compassion and understanding for all North Dakota youth and their families,” Burgum said at the time.
Tate Dolney, a plaintiff and 12-year-old transgender boy from Fargo, said gender-affirming care helped his confidence, happiness, schoolwork and relationships with others.
“I was finally able to just be who I truly am,” the seventh-grader told reporters. “It has hurt me all over again to know that the lawmakers who have banned the health care don’t want this for me and want to take it all away from me and every other transgender and nonbinary kid who just wants to be left alone to live our lives in peace.”
Mother Devon Dolney said Tate was previously severely depressed and angry, but with the care “went from being ashamed and uncomfortable with who he is to being confident and outspoken,” a “miraculous” change.
North Dakota’s ban has led the family to travel farther for Tate’s appointments, now in neighboring Minnesota, she said. The family has considered moving out of North Dakota, she said.
Politicians “have intruded on our lives and inserted themselves into decisions that they have no business being involved in,” father Robert Dolney said.
The law exempts minors who were already receiving gender-affirming care and allows for treatment of “a minor born with a medically verifiable genetic disorder of sex development.”
But the grandfather clause has led providers “to not even risk it, because that vague law doesn’t give them enough detail of exactly what they can and cannot do” — an element of the suit, Gender Justice Senior Staff Attorney Brittany Stewart said.
North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley told The Associated Press he hadn’t seen the lawsuit’s filing, but his office “will evaluate it and take the appropriate course.”
Bill sponsor and Republican state Rep. Bill Tveit told the AP that he brought the legislation to protect children.
“I’ve talked to a number of people who are of age now and would transform back if they could, and they’re just really upset with their parents and the adults in their life that led them to do this, to have these surgeries,” Tveit said. He declined to identify the two people he said he talked to, but said one is a college student in Minnesota that he became acquainted with while working on the bill.
North Dakota’s law criminalizes doctors’ performance of sex reassignment surgeries on minors with a felony charge, punishable up to 10 years’ imprisonment and a $20,000 fine.
The law also includes a misdemeanor charge for health care providers who prescribe or give hormone treatments or puberty blockers to minors. That charge is punishable up to nearly a year’s incarceration and a $3,000 fine.
Opponents of the bill said sex reassignment surgeries are not performed on minors in North Dakota, and the ban on gender-affirming care would harm transgender youth, who are at increased risk for depression, suicide and self-harm.
At least 22 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits. A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban as unconstitutional, and a federal judge has temporarily blocked a ban in Indiana.
…
Rolling Stone Co-Founder Removed from Rock Hall Leadership After Controversial Comments
Jann Wenner, who co-founded Rolling Stone magazine and also was a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has been removed from the hall’s board of directors after making comments that were seen as disparaging toward Black and female musicians.
“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the hall said Saturday, a day after Wenner’s comments were published in a New York Times interview.
A representative for Wenner, 77, did not immediately respond for a comment.
Wenner created a firestorm doing publicity for his new book, The Masters, which features interviews with musicians Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and U2’s Bono — all white and male.
Asked why he didn’t interview women or Black musicians, Wenner responded: “It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni [Mitchell] was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test,” he told the Times.
“Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level,” Wenner said.
Wenner co-founded Rolling Stone in 1967 and served as its editor or editorial director until 2019. He also co-founded the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which was launched in 1987.
In the interview, Wenner seemed to acknowledge he would face a backlash. “Just for public relations sake, maybe I should have gone and found one Black and one woman artist to include here that didn’t measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism.”
Last year, Rolling Stone magazine published its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and ranked Gaye’s What’s Going On No. 1, Blue by Mitchell at No. 3, Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life at No. 4, Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution at No. 8 and Ms. Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at No. 10.
Rolling Stone’s niche in magazines was an outgrowth of Wenner’s outsized interests, a mixture of authoritative music and cultural coverage with tough investigative reporting.
…