October 2023 - Page 8 of 23

Meloni’s First Anniversary as Italy PM Marred by Economy, Family Split

Posted on 10/22/2023 by SeeEU

Weak economic growth and high interest on the country’s huge debt are the main problems facing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after her first year in power, an anniversary marked by an abrupt announcement she was leaving her long-time partner.

Meloni’s coalition, the first led by a woman in Italy’s history, was sworn in a year ago after a sweeping election victory and will soon cruise past the 14-month average postwar term life for Italian governments.

It was seen on taking power as the country’s most right-wing since wartime dictator Benito Mussolini, as Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party traces its roots to the post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI).

Yet Meloni, 46, set about quelling foreign concerns of possible extremism, forging good ties with allies by adopting a strongly pro-Western, EU-friendly stance and pledging staunch support to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

At home she pleased her rightist grassroots through measures to defend the traditional family, protect Italy’s cultural heritage and try to stem migrant arrivals.

“We have worked tirelessly to repay the trust and to demonstrate with facts that it was possible to build a different Italy,” she said in a video message this week.

However, an economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic has ground to a halt, with gross domestic product contracting by 0.4% in the second quarter, and analysts forecast Italian growth will be among the lowest in the euro zone next year.

That makes it harder for Meloni to keep her tax-cutting promises and makes Italy’s debt, equal to 140% of national output, vulnerable to market sell-offs.

“The economy is probably the toughest subject. The government has low margins in which to operate,” said Valentina Meliciani, an economics professor at LUISS university in Rome.

Last week Meloni weathered the first of several reviews on Italy’s debt when S&P Global Ratings confirmed the country’s BBB rating with a stable outlook.

However, the prevailing view among analysts is that the rating agencies will worsen Rome’s outlook while avoiding outright downgrades.

Meloni also has personal problems to deal with. She announced on Friday she was separating from her long-time partner, TV presenter Andrea Giambruno, after he repeatedly sparked outrage for sexist comments made on and off-air.

Tax cuts

This month the government approved a 2024 budget with around 24 billion euros ($25.3 billion) of tax cuts and increased spending, despite a public debt that is proportionally the second highest in the euro zone after Greece’s.

The budget has not impressed investors, and exacerbated a long-running rise in Italian bond spreads.

The gap between yields on Italian 10-year bonds and the German equivalent is hovering around 2 percentage points (200 basis points), far higher than for any other euro zone country.

Meliciani said Italy’s hopes of reviving its economy and cutting debt were strongly dependent on effective implementation of investment plans financed through EU post-COVID funds.

So far Rome has struggled to meet Brussels’ policy conditions and to spend the money it has received.

On the international front, as well as her backing for Ukraine Meloni has largely avoided confrontation with Brussels despite her eurosceptic past.

She has also dropped the calls she used to make in opposition for a naval blockade to prevent boats leaving north Africa, despite her inability to halt the influx of migrants.

Arrivals on Italy’s coasts have surged to more than 140,000 so far in 2023, nearly double the same period last year.

“We expected Italy to be very tough (on immigration) at the EU level but we have seen a conciliatory attitude overall, they are working to find a common line,” said Enzo Moavero Milanesi, a former foreign affairs minister.

Commanding position

At home Meloni has so far avoided the domestic political chaos that dogged so many of her predecessors.

A divided opposition has helped her tighten her grip on power and keep her party at the top of the polls, with nearly 30% of voter support, against around 18.5% for the center-left Democratic Party (PD) and 17% for the maverick 5-Star Movement.

Her party dominates its coalition allies, the League and Forza Italia, whose combined score remains below 20%.

Analysts believe a slice of center-right voters switched to Meloni from the other two parties and are unlikely to shake the balance of power within the coalition by changing back again.

“Meloni came after a decade of political instability and voters floating across the party spectrum. The country looks now tired of this,” said historian and politics expert Giovanni Orsina.

($1 = 0.9476 euros)
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Catholic Women Speak Up as ‘Patriarchal’ Church Debates Its Future

Posted on 10/22/2023 by SeeEU

“Ordain women priests!” Not far from the Vatican, where hundreds of Catholics have gathered to debate the future of the Church, purple-clad activists make their voices heard against the “patriarchy”.

The place of women in the Catholic Church — led for 2,000 years by a man, which outlaws abortion and female priests and does not recognize divorce — is one of the hot topics at the general assembly of the Synod of Bishops taking place over four weeks.

Women campaigning for change have come to Rome to make their case, from Europe and the United States but also South Africa, Australia, Colombia and India.

They have different backgrounds and diverse goals — not all want female priests, with some aiming first for women to become deacons, who can celebrate baptisms, marriages and funerals, although not masses.

But they are united in their frustration at seeing women excluded from key roles in what many view as a “patriarchal and macho” Church.

“The majority of people who support parish life and transmit the faith in families are women, mothers,” said Carmen Chaumet from French campaign group “Comite de la Jupe”, or the Committee of the Skirt.

“It is paradoxical and unfair not to give them their legitimate place.”

“If you go to the Vatican, to a mass, you see hundreds of men priests dressed the same way, and no women,” added Teresa Casillas, a member of Spanish association “Revuelta de Mujeres en la Iglesia”, “The Women’s Revolt in the Church”.

“I feel that men are the owners of God.”

‘Voting rights’

The Synod assembly, which runs until October 29, nevertheless marks a historic turning point in the Church, with nuns and laywomen allowed to take part for the first time.

Some 54 women — around 15 percent of the total of 365 assembly members — will be able to vote on proposals that will be sent to Pope Francis.

Vatican observers have called it a revolution. “A first step,” say campaigners.

Adeline Fermanian, co-president of the Committee of Skirt, said the pope had given “openings” on the question of ordaining women.

“He recognized that the questions has not been examined sufficiently on a theological level,” she said.

Since his election in 2013, Francis has sought to forge a more open Church, more welcoming to LGBTQ faithful and divorcees, and encouraging inter-faith dialogue.

He has increased the number of women appointed to the Curia, the central government of the Holy See, with some in senior positions.

But some campaigners see the changes as “cosmetic” reforms which hide a biased perception of women.

Cathy Corbitt, an Australian member of the executive board of umbrella group Catholic Women’s Council (CWC), said the inclusion of female voting members in the Synod was a sign of progress.

But she said the wider view of women in the Church was “very frustrating”, much of it taking inspiration from the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.

“The pope still seems to have this blind spot towards women… He seems to regard women in terms of a role, and it’s usually in terms of a mother,” she said.

Resistance

The Synod process is slow — the current meeting in Rome followed a two-year global consultation, and a second general assembly is planned for next year.

Regina Franken-Wendelsorf, a German member of CWC executive board, said women were hoping for concrete action.

“All arguments and requests are on the table. It’s now the Vatican and the Church who have to act!” she said.

While the Church debates, “there are collateral victims, frustration, Catholics who leave because they no longer feel welcomed”, added French campaigner Chaumet.

But just as Pope Francis faces resistance in his reform agenda, there is significant resistance to the women’s push for change.

“Some American bishops are afraid to follow the path of the Anglican Church,” which authorized the ordination of women in 1992, notes one Synod participant, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Another senior Church member, who also asked not to be named, noted that pressure for reform was not equal from all regions of the Church.

“We must not forget that the Church is global,” he recalled. “There are expectations (among women) in Europe, but in Asia and Africa, much less.”
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Venezuelans Become Largest Nationality for Illegal US Border Crossings

Posted on 10/22/2023 by SeeUS

Venezuelans became the largest nationality arrested for illegally crossing the U.S. border, replacing Mexicans for the first time on record, according to figures released Saturday that show September was the second-highest month for arrests of all nationalities.

Venezuelans were arrested 54,833 times by the Border Patrol after entering from Mexico in September, more than double from 22,090 arrests in August and well above the previous monthly high of 33,749 arrests in September 2022.

Arrests of all nationalities entering from Mexico totaled 218,763 in September, up 21% from 181,084 in August and approaching an all-time high of 222,018 in December 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrests for the government’s budget year that ended Sept. 30 topped 2 million for the second year in a row, down 7% from an all-time high of more than 2.2 million arrests in the same period a year earlier.

Venezuela plunged into a political, economic and humanitarian crisis over the last decade, pushing more than 7 million people to leave. They initially settled in nearby countries in Latin America but began coming to the United States in the last three years, settling in New York, Chicago and other major cities.

The Biden administration recently announced temporary legal status for nearly 500,000 Venezuelans who were already in the United States on July 31, while vowing to deport those who come illegally after that date and fail to get asylum. It recently began deportation flights to Venezuela as part of a diplomatic thaw with the government of Nicolás Maduro, a longtime adversary.

The U.S. “surged resources and personnel” to the border in September, said Troy Miller, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection.

“We are continually engaging with domestic and foreign partners to address historic hemispheric migration, including large migrant groups traveling on freight trains, and to enforce consequences including by preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela,” Miller said.

For decades, Mexicans accounted for the vast majority of illegal crossings but flows shifted over the last decade to Central Americans and, more recently, to people from South America, Africa and Asia.

Mexicans were arrested 39,733 times crossing the border in September, well behind Venezuelans. Guatemalans, Hondurans and Colombians rounded out the top five.

Republicans seized on the latest numbers as its leading presidential candidates have tried to frame the border as a major issue in next year’s elections.

“This fiscal year may have ended, but the historic crisis at our Southwest border sparked by (Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro) Mayorkas’ policies rages on,” said Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The Biden administration proposed about $14 billion for the border in a $106 billion spending package announced Friday and has insisted that any long-term solution requires help from Congress.

The administration has adopted a carrot-and-stick approach of new legal pathways to seek asylum with restrictions on those who don’t adhere to them.

About 43,000 migrants entered the country at land crossings with Mexico in September using a mobile app called CBP One, bringing the total to nearly 278,000 since the online appointment system began in January. Also, more than 265,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela entered through September at airports after applying online with financial sponsors.

Including those legal pathways, the number of crossings hit a new all-time monthly high of 269,735 in September and a new budget-year high of nearly 2.5 million.
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US-Led Troops in Iraq Reportedly Targeted by Suicide Drone

Posted on 10/22/2023 by SeeUS

A suicide drone hit an air base in Iraq hosting U.S. troops, Iraqi security sources said Saturday, but the Pentagon said it could not confirm that such an attack took place.

Armed factions close to Iran have threatened to attack U.S. interests in Iraq over Washington’s support for Israel since Hamas militants killed more than 1,400 people in a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on October 7.

Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 4,300 people, according to its Hamas-controlled health ministry.

“The drone came down inside the (Ain al-Assad) base” in the western province of Anbar, without causing any casualties or damage, a military source told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

A statement issued on Telegram channels used by pro-Iranian armed groups said the attack was carried out by a group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

A second Iraqi security source told AFP the attack had involved two suicide drones. “The first was intercepted and the second crashed because of a technical problem,” the source said.

The Pentagon, however, said it was unaware of any such attack.

“We have not seen any operational reporting confirming” that an attack occurred Saturday, a U.S. Defense Department official said on the condition of anonymity.

Since Wednesday, three Iraqi bases used by U.S.-led coalition troops have been targeted in five separate attacks — Ain al-Assad, the Al-Harir base in northern Iraq, and a military camp near Baghdad airport.

The United States currently has about 2,500 troops stationed at the three bases, alongside around 1,000 soldiers from other countries in the coalition set up to fight the Islamic State jihadi group.

The attacks came after factions loyal to Iran stepped up threats against the United States.

One of them, the Hezbollah Brigades, demanded that U.S. forces “leave” Iraq, “otherwise they will taste the fires of hell.”
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Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Flood Streets All Over World

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeUS

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched Saturday through a rainy London to demand Israel stop its bombardment of Gaza, and similar calls were heard in cities around the world as the Israel-Hamas war entered its third week.

On the day a trickle of aid entered Gaza, where more than 1 million people have left their homes because of the conflict, protesters gathered in at Marble Arch near London’s Hyde Park before marching to the government district, Whitehall.

Police estimated the crowd that wound its way through the city for three hours at “up to 100,000.”

Waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Stop bombing Gaza,” participants called for an end to Israel’s blockade and airstrikes launched in the wake of a brutal incursion into southern Israel by the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza.

Authorities in Gaza say more than 4,300 people have been killed in the territory since the latest war began. More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mostly civilians slain during Hamas’ attack on October 7.

Israel continued to bombard targets Saturday in Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive. A small measure of relief came when 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were allowed to enter Gaza across the southern Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

The war has raised tensions around the world, with both Jewish and Muslim communities feeling under threat. The British Transport Police force said it was investigating after footage was posted online that appears to show a London Underground driver leading passengers in a chant of “Free, free Palestine” over the subway intercom.

British authorities urged demonstrators to be mindful of the pain and anxiety felt by the Jewish community. London’s Metropolitan Police force says it has seen a 13-fold upsurge in reports of antisemitic offenses in October compared to last year. Reports of anti-Muslim crimes have more than doubled.

Police said there had been “pockets of disorder and some instances of hate speech” during protests over the war, but “the majority of the protest activity has been lawful and has taken place without incident.”

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters also gathered in Belfast and in Northern Ireland’s second city, Londonderry, where speakers included lawmaker Colum Eastwood of the Irish nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party.

“The murder of children is wrong,” he told the crowd, calling for an immediate cease-fire in the conflict. “I don’t know how that is so difficult for some of our world leaders to actually utter. It doesn’t matter whether they are Israeli children or Palestinian children.”

Across the border in the Republic of Ireland, thousands marched through the capital, Dublin, calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment.

In France, pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in several cities including Rennes, Montpellier, Dijon and Lyon, where thousands of people could be seen chanting “we all are Palestinians” in the central square.

In Marseille, the country’s second-largest city, some people took to the streets, waving Palestinians flags and shouting “Free Gaza,” despite the protest being banned by local police.

A pro-Palestinian gathering scheduled for Sunday in Paris has been allowed by police.

German police said almost 7,000 people took part in a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration Saturday in Dusseldorf. The demonstrators carried Palestinian flags or banners calling for an end to “violence and aggression in Gaza.”

Police in Berlin banned a pro-Palestinian demonstration that was scheduled for Sunday in the center of the city, German news agency dpa reported. Police in the German capital have stopped several similar events in recent weeks, citing the potential of violence and antisemitic hate speech. Some pro-Palestinian demonstrators have taken to the streets anyway, resulting in clashes with police.

Authorities allowed a pro-Israel demonstration scheduled for Sunday that was expected to draw together thousands of people in central Berlin.

Elsewhere, several hundred people marched Saturday through Rome, some holding signs saying “Palestine, Rome is with you,” and “No peace until we get freedom.”

“Israel carries out war crimes there, crimes against humanity there, and the international community has never acted,” said Maya Issa, president of the Movement of Palestinian Students in Italy, which organized the demonstration.

In Muslim-majority Kosovo, several hundred people walked from mosques to Pristina’s Zahir Pajaziti square after lunchtime prayers to express support for Palestinians.

In Australia, thousands marched Saturday through central Sydney, shouting “Shame, shame Israel” and “Palestine will never die.”

The war sparked protests across the Arab world and beyond Friday, including in the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians burned tires and threw stones at Israeli military checkpoints. Israeli security forces responded firing tear gas and live rounds.

Crowds gathered in Israel’s northern neighbor Lebanon; in Iraq at the country’s border crossing with Jordan; in Jordan itself; in cities and towns across Egypt; in Turkey’s capital Ankara and its most populous city of Istanbul; and in Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Venezuela, and South Africa.

In New York, hundreds of protesters from Muslim, Jewish and other groups marched to U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand’s Manhattan office, many shouting “cease fire now.” Police later arrested dozens of protesters who blocked Third Avenue outside Gillibrand’s office by sitting in the road.

Pro-Israel demonstrations and vigils have also been held around the world, many focused on securing the return of hostages captured by Hamas.

Rome’s Jewish community Friday remembered the more than 200 people believed held by Hamas by setting a long Shabbat table for them outside the capital’s main synagogue and empty chairs for each of the hostages.

On the back of each chair was a flyer featuring the name, age and photo of each missing person. On the table were candles, wine and loaves of challah, the braided bread typically eaten during the Friday night meal.
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California Governor to Visit China Amid Efforts to Stabilize Bilateral Ties

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. state of California Governor Gavin Newsom begins his weeklong visit to China Monday, traveling to six Chinese cities and meeting national and provincial officials to talk about climate policies and potential partnerships.

“California and China hold the keys to solving the climate crisis,” Newsom said in a statement released by his office on October 18. “As two of the world’s largest economies, our partnership is essential to delivering climate action for our communities and beyond.”

Some analysts say Newsom’s trip is a continuation of California’s longstanding tradition of collaborating on climate and environment with China. “The trip is part of the [efforts] to push forward some agreements that have already been signed, sign some new agreements and see if there are things California can learn from China,” said Alex Wang, faculty co-director at the Emmett Institute for Climate Change and Environment at the UCLA School of Law.

Newsom is expected to exchange views about shared efforts to combat climate change with Chinese officials and academics, sign new agreements to deepen climate partnership, and visit Tesla’s factory in Shanghai.

Wang said one thing California can learn from China is how it deploys renewable energy resources and products. “One thing that China has done in areas like clean energy and electric vehicles is deployment,” he told VOA by phone. “What California and the rest of the world need to do is to deploy a lot of the things we already have as fast as possible.”

Newsom’s efforts to resume exchanges with China are built on California’s 15-year-long close relationship with Beijing on trade and climate issues. Compared with his predecessors, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, Newsom has limited experience in international affairs.

The trip to China will be his second overseas trip since he became California governor in 2019. Despite his lack of experience in international affairs, Newsom has sought to revive a partnership with China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, while signing a new climate-related deal with the Chinese province of Hainan last year.

Subnational diplomacy with China

Newsom’s trip comes after a number of U.S. cabinet members, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, visited China and conducted high-level meetings with top Chinese officials in recent months. It also takes place as the U.S. and China try to pave the way for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend the APEC Leaders Summit in San Francisco next month.

While tension between the U.S. and China remains high at the national level, some experts say the factors that cause the persistent tension won’t be present when the meeting is between two unequal partners.

“When national-level partners in China meet with Newsom, there won’t be the same fraught politics, and when Newsom meets with subnational governments in China, the interactions have always been friendlier even in the darkest moments of U.S.-China state-to-state interactions,” Wang said.

Other analysts say that in Beijing’s view, restarting cooperation and contact with the U.S. at the subnational level may be less risky than doing the same thing at the national level because the chances of those efforts being derailed by the broader tensions in the U.S.-China relationship are smaller.

“California has been much less hawkish on China than many states, and they have continued to engage in low-level cooperation [with China],” Sara Newland, an expert on local politics in China at Smith College, told VOA by phone. “My guess is that China hopes there will be a bit of lower-stake form of engagement during Newsom’s visit.”

Criticism from human rights groups

Prior to the trip, Newsom’s team emphasized that the visit would be “predominantly focused on climate,” which raises skepticism that he will broach sensitive issues such as human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, China’s aggression against Taiwan and provocation in the South China Sea, as well as Beijing’s intellectual property rights.

Dozens of civil society groups and human rights organizations have criticized Newsom’s attempt to avoid touching on sensitive issues that might irk Beijing and urged him to mention human rights violations when he visits Hong Kong and China.

Family members of a 67-year-old Chinese-American pastor, who has been detained in China since 2006 under fraud-related charges, have urged Newsom to help free the Californian during his trip.

Some observers say Newsom’s strictly focused agenda may prove to be counterproductive. “Climate and human rights are intimately linked as human rights [allows] civil society to protest, monitor the government and make sure they implement clean energy pledges,” said Maya Wang, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “We don’t know why the governor would think that the two things can be separated.”

Potential impact on other states

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic and growing skepticism toward China in the U.S. have stalled bilateral engagement between the two countries in recent years, UCLA’s Wang thinks Newsom could still achieve some positive outcomes through his trip to China.

“He is continuing to build the relationship and having face time,” he said. “A lot of these are simple elements of diplomacy and cooperation, such as sharing ideas, putting things on the agenda and trying to persuade each other of the things they should work on together. These are plausible outcomes of this trip.”

Newland of Smith College said that the outcome of Newsom’s trip could have an impact on governors who may also be contemplating a visit to China. “This trip will be closely watched by other states, and if the trip is seen as successful, it will give ammunition to people who do want to open more channels of communication with China again,” she said.
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California’s Little Arabia Residents Support Palestinians, Condemn Hamas

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeUS

In Orange County, California, there is a neighborhood that has earned the name Little Arabia because most residents are Palestinians and Afghans. Angelina Bagdasaryan visited the neighborhood and spoke with locals about the situation in the Middle East. Anna Rice narrates her story. Camera — Vazgen Varzhabetian.
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Zelenskyy Thanks Military for ‘Destroying the Occupier Day After Day’

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeEU

In his daily address Friday, the president of Ukraine thanked military personnel in southern Ukraine “who are holding their ground and destroying the occupier day after day.”

“These days,” Volodomyr Zelenskyy said, “Russian losses are really impressive, and it is exactly the kind of losses of the occupier that Ukraine needs.”

Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent announcement that Russia will begin conducting fighter patrols in the eastern Black Sea with interceptor aircraft armed with Kinzhal air-launched missiles is in reaction to an increased presence of the U.S. in the eastern Mediterranean.

“Putin’s announcement,” the report said, “is in line with typical Russian rhetoric aimed at its domestic audience,” which calls the West aggressors, while framing Russian activity as “necessary for protection of the state.”

The Kinzhal missile, the ministry said, is “highly capable on paper,” but its performance in Ukraine thus far has been “poor.”

The British ministry said that “on paper” the Kinzhal is “able to fly at hypersonic speeds and evade modern air defense systems, although there almost certainly needs to be significant improvement in how Russia uses it to achieve this potential.”
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Suicide Car Bomb Kills Somali Security Personnel

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeAF

A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at a security post outside Somalia’s capital Saturday, killing at least six security personnel and injuring seven others, a security official and residents told VOA Somali.

Militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the early-morning attack, in which the bomber drove a car packed with explosives into a camp manned by Somali military police at Elasha Biyaha, about 20 kilometers west of Mogadishu.

A security official who asked not to be identified because he is not allowed to speak to the media told VOA that the soldiers fired on the incoming car but said the windows were shielded with metal to deflect bullets, allowing it to hit the perimeter.

The information about the car and casualties were confirmed to VOA by Mohamed Ibrahim Barre, the governor of the Lower Shabelle region, where Elasha Biyaha is located.

The bombing targeted soldiers who were assigned to intercept al-Shabab car bombs, the official added.

The Somali government deployed hundreds of newly trained personnel in and around Mogadishu earlier this year to beef up security and prevent retaliatory attacks as the national army, working with local militias, battles al-Shabab in central Somalia.

Earlier this week, an explosion from al-Shabab suicide bomber at a Mogadishu restaurant killed a prominent Somali television journalist, Abdifatah Moalim Nur Qeys. The attack was strongly condemned by the Somali government and media rights groups.

The following day, the United States announced a $5 million bounty for information on the location of al-Shabab deputy leader Abukar Ali Adan.

“Adan spent several years as al-Shabaab’s military chief after previously heading the Jabhat, al-Shabaab’s armed wing,” a statement by the U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice program said.

The U.S. originally sanctioned Adan as a global terrorist in January 2018.

He joins other al-Shabab leaders on the U.S. wanted list, including the group’s emir, Ahmed Diriye, or Abu Ubaidah; operations commander Mahad Karate and explosives expert Jehad Mostafa. For each, the U.S. has offered rewards of $10 million for information on their whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Friday returned to his temporary base in the central town of Dhusamareb, where he has been overseeing military and local community operations against al-Shabab.

Mohamud has been working from Dhusamareb since early August. On Oct. 8, he traveled to Eritrea, where Somali soldiers have been training.
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African Leaders Hear China’s Xi Outline ‘BRI 2.0’

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeAF

China and the U.S. presented competing visions for development in Africa this week as several leaders from the continent attended Beijing’s Belt and Road Forum marking the 10-year anniversary of the global infrastructure initiative.

The Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect the world through trade by investing billions of dollars in land and sea infrastructure projects, has broadened over the last decade.

“Belt and Road cooperation has expanded from physical connectivity to institutional connectivity,” said China’s President Xi Jinping in a speech at the opening ceremony of the forum, which ended Wednesday.

The Chinese president announced $100 billion in new funding and promised to “work with all parties involved to deepen Belt and Road partnerships, usher this cooperation into a new stage of high-quality development and make relentless efforts to achieve modernization for all countries.”

African leaders in attendance included Kenyan President William Ruto, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima, and Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso. They represented nations that have been recipients of BRI investments and were seeking new funding for various projects, analysts said.

Paul Nantulya, research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, told VOA he saw signs of a “strategic shift” in Chinese lending after sharp cuts in the amounts allotted in recent years.

“I think we’re now going to see an uptick … an upward trend that makes a sharp turn from the last two to three years,” he said. “I think this is Belt and Road 2.0.”

While analysts have noted a move toward smaller, greener initiatives along with smaller loans, Xi’s speech — which boasted of “brand-new airports and harbors, smooth roads and newly built industrial parks for business” — gave no indication the BRI was winding down.

In addition to hard infrastructure, Nantulya said Xi’s focus going forward would address calls from African leaders for projects that create added value, including industrialization, green energy and training.

A Biden BRI?

Green energy and value addition are also target areas for the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden as it attempts to increase engagement with Africa.

African countries are home to many of the critical minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, needed for the transition to clean energy — and China has had a head start in extracting and processing them.

“Now, it’s true that the United States is playing a bit of catch-up on the continent when it comes to critical minerals, and there are other players, like … China, who have been here and have made significant investments in the mining sector in Africa for quite some time,” said Joshua Volz, the deputy assistant secretary for Europe, Eurasia, Africa and the Middle East in the Office of International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy.

“We’re here to offer an alternative, perhaps an alternative model, to developing Africa’s critical minerals,” Volz said in an interview with VOA during his visit to South Africa this week for Africa Energy Week.

That mode “is one that’s based in partnership and has at its core the ability for African partners to climb the value chain of those resources instead of simply having them be extracted and taken overseas for processing,” he said.

“What we’re looking to do is create some options for our African partners. You know, we’ve long been wary of some of the tactics and the methods that our counterparts in Beijing employ when it comes to development opportunities, throughout the world but especially here on the continent,” he said.

Last month, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the U.S. and European Union pledged to develop the partially existing Lobito Corridor — a railway connecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s cobalt belt to Zambia’s copper belt and on to Angola’s port of Lobito, from where materials can be shipped to international markets.

“One of the areas where our African partners have historically struggled is with the infrastructure necessary to catalyze investments to develop those resources. The Lobito Corridor is a great example of that,” Volz said.

While China has been investing in African infrastructure for years, the White House’s announcement may signal the U.S.is also jumping into the infrastructure game on the continent.

“I think that this should be seen as a proof of conduct, as a first foray, but certainly not as the last,” said Volz.

African agenda

Some African leaders have tried to capitalize on the power competition.

Kenya’s Ruto is seeking about $1 billion in new financing for stalled road construction projects.

“My coming to China this time around is a confirmation of our commitment to elevate this relationship for the mutual benefit of Kenya and China,” Ruto said.

He encouraged Beijing to use its leverage to reform international financial institutions so nations in the developing world can access more financing at below-market rates.

“China has a special place, no doubt, to have the ability to enhance the competitiveness of Africa,” Ruto said during the Belt and Road Forum.

Observers said the Kenyan leader has been taking advantage of that opportunity, especially recently.

“President Ruto’s administration took a more than semidetached approach to its relationship with China and pivoted back towards its established partners in the West ahead of this visit to China,” said Aly-Khan Satchu, an economic analyst based in Nairobi.

“However, hardcore fiscal pressures have, I believe, forced him to temper his Western pivot. By all accounts he is looking for some relief from China.”

Cliff Mboya, an Africa-China analyst in Kenya, does not agree. He said Ruto was less concerned than in the past about securing Chinese investments and capital.

“China is well aware that he is leaning West and his international posture generally supports Western policies,” Mboya said.

One of the other African heavyweights who attended the Beijing forum, Ethiopia’s Abiy, said China “continues to be a critical partner for Ethiopia.”

China has invested in Ethiopian projects including a railway and roads. During Abiy’s visit, Beijing upgraded its relationship with Addis Ababa to become what Xi described as “all-weather friends” and signed multiple bilateral agreements.

While major leaders from East and West Africa descended on Beijing for the BRI anniversary celebrations, Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of Africa’s most developed economy, South Africa, was absent. But analysts said one should not read too much into that.

“It doesn’t strike me as odd, because presidents would usually visit if they also get a one-on-one with Xi, and Ramaphosa had a big meeting with Xi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit” in August, said Cobus van Staden, a researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs.

“Xi’s meeting schedule is so dense at this kind of event that it probably had more to do with timing and logistics rather than reflecting a vote of no confidence from SA.”

BRICS is a coalition of the emerging economies of South Africa, China, Brazil, Russia and India. In 2024, Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will join the bloc.
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VOA Immigration Weekly Recap, Oct. 15-21

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeAF

Editor’s note: Here is a look at immigration-related news around the U.S. this week. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

Venezuela Receives First Group of Deported Migrants From US

The U.S. has not carried out regular deportations to Venezuela since 2019, but at an airport in Harlingen, Texas, Venezuelan men and women arrived on buses in shackles, underwent pat-downs and were escorted onto a charter plane. The 135 Venezuelan migrants were deported from the United States on Wednesday to Caracas, Venezuela. Immigration reporter Aline Barros has the story.

Pilot Program Could Allow Some Work Visa Holders to Renew Them in US

The U.S. State Department is working on a pilot program that would allow some work visa holders currently in the United States to renew their visas here, rather than traveling to their home country. Immigration reporter Aline Barros has the story.

US Advocates for Afghan Refugees Amid Pakistan’s Threatened Expulsion

The United States has engaged in high-level diplomatic discussions in Pakistan to address concerns related to Afghan refugees on the brink of mass deportation. The Pakistani government has pledged to deport hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals who do not possess recognized refugee status. This includes Afghans who collaborated with the United States and its allies prior to 2021. Story by Akmal Dawi.

Settlement Over Trump Family Separations at the Border Seeks to Limit Future Separations for 8 Years

A settlement filed Monday in a long-running lawsuit over the Trump administration’s separation of parents and their children at the border bars the government from similar separations for eight years while also providing benefits like the ability for their parents to come to America and work, according to the Biden administration. Story by The Associated Press.

California to Give Some Mexican Residents Near Border In-State Community College Tuition

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law Friday to make low-income Mexican residents living near the border eligible for in-state tuition rates at certain community colleges. The legislation applies to low-income Mexicans who live within 72 kilometers (45 miles) of the California-Mexico border and want to attend a participating community college in Southern California. It is a pilot program that will launch next year and run until 2029. Story by The Associated Press.

Ukrainian Family Returns Home After Long Rehabilitation in US

As the war drags on, some severely injured Ukrainians who received medical help abroad are returning home. Yana Stepanenko and her mother have resettled in Lviv after a year of treatment and rehabilitation in the U.S. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Camera: Yuriy Dankevychs.

Immigration around the world

Six Months Into War, Sudanese Seek Refuge Outside Chaotic Capital

Six months after tensions between rival Sudanese generals ignited a devastating war, thousands lie dead, millions are displaced and the once-thriving capital, Khartoum, is a shadow of its past glory. When the first bombs fell on April 15, the capital’s residents looked on in terror as entire neighborhoods were razed and essential services were paralyzed, exacerbating their misery. Story by Agence France-Presse.

Egypt Expresses Opposition to Allowing Palestinians From Gaza Into Sinai

As Egypt faces the possibility of receiving an influx of Palestinian refugees from its northern border with Gaza, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has repeated his country’s long-standing opposition to permitting Palestinians from Gaza to be resettled in the Sinai. Egypt and Israel reportedly agreed Saturday to open the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egyptian territory to allow U.S. citizens stranded in the Hamas-controlled territory to leave. Edward Yeranian reports for VOA from Cairo, Egypt.

Water Runs Out at UN Shelters in Gaza

Water has run out at U.N. shelters across Gaza as thousands packed into the courtyard of the besieged territory’s largest hospital as a refuge of last resort from a looming Israeli ground offensive and overwhelmed doctors struggled to care for patients they fear will die once generators run out of fuel. The Associated Press reports.

Italy to Charge Foreigners Over $2,100 a Year for Health Service

Foreigners who live in Italy will be able to use the national health service after paying a $2,109 annual fee, the government said Monday. The charge, part of the 2024 budget adopted by the Cabinet, will apply only to citizens from outside the European Union, the economy ministry said in a statement. The ministry said there would be an unspecified discount for those with legal residency papers, as well as for foreign students and au pairs. Story by Reuters.

Community Hostility in Chad Rising as Refugee and Displacement Crisis Grows

U.N. officials warned Monday that community hostility in Chad is rising as thousands of refugees from conflict-ridden Sudan continue to arrive, putting pressure on limited resources Chadians depend on for their livelihoods and survival. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

Why Egypt, Other Arab Countries Are Unwilling to Accept Refugees From Gaza

As desperate Palestinians in sealed-off Gaza try to find refuge, some ask why neighboring Egypt and Jordan don’t take them in. The two countries, which flank Israel on opposite sides and share borders with Gaza and the occupied West Bank, respectively, have replied with a staunch refusal. Story by The Associated Press.

Fearing Rise of Radical Islamists, Greece Boosts Migrant Camp Security, Surveillance

Greek intelligence has increased surveillance of refugee camps in the country amid radical Islamist calls for jihad in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Like many other countries, Greece has boosted security since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, elevating its level of national alert to Code 4, just shy of the highest level possible. Report by Anthee Carassava.

News briefs

— The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday announced the start of visa-free travel for short-term visits to the United States for eligible Israeli citizens and nationals following Israel’s admission into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.

— DHS also announced a new family-reunification parole process for certain nationals of Ecuador, whose family members are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and who have received approval to join their family in the United States. Specifically, Ecuadorian nationals and their immediate family members can be considered for parole on a case-by-case basis for a period of up to three years while they wait to apply to become a lawful permanent resident.
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Mike Pence Faces Cash Shortage, Questions About Campaign’s Future

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeUS

With three months to go before the Iowa caucuses that he has staked his campaign on, former Vice President Mike Pence faces mounting debt and lagging poll numbers that are forcing questions about not only whether he will qualify for the next debate, but whether it makes sense for him to remain in the race until then.

Pence ended September with just $1.18 million left in his campaign account, a strikingly low number for a presidential contest and far less than his rivals, new filings show. His campaign also has $621,000 in debt — more than half the cash he had remaining — and is scrambling to meet donor thresholds for the Nov. 8 debate. While he would likely meet the debate’s polling requirements, Pence has struggled to gain traction and is polling in the low single digits nationally, with no sign of momentum.

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is leading every one of his rivals by at least 40 points in national polls and ended September with $37.5 million on hand.

People close to Pence say he now faces a choice about how long to stay in the race and whether remaining a candidate might potentially diminish his long-term standing in the party, given Trump’s dominating lead. While Pence could stick it out until the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, visiting the state’s famous Pizza Ranch restaurants and campaigning on a shoestring budget, he must now weigh how that will impact his desire to remain a leading conservative voice, according to the people, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to share their unvarnished views.

“For Pence and many of the others, you gotta start looking and saying, ‘I’m not going to go into substantial debt if I don’t see a pathway forward,'” said former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ran against Trump in 2016 but abandoned his bid after concluding “the Trump train had left the station.”

Pence, for the moment, is pressing forward. He held a Newsmax town hall in Iowa Tuesday night and fundraisers this week in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Dallas. He was to speak at the Republican National Committee’s fall retreat Friday night and at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Annual Leadership Summit in Las Vegas next week — all opportunities to pitch deep-pocketed donors to keep his campaign afloat.

The super PAC supporting Pence is also continuing its efforts, fundraising and conducting extensive voter outreach, including knocking on nearly 600,000 doors and counting.

The campaign is also working aggressively to reach the 70,000-donor threshold needed to qualify for next month’s debate and expressed confidence they could get there if they try — even as others remain skeptical he can make it.

“I know it’s an uphill climb for a lot of reasons for us, some that I understand, some that I don’t,” Pence acknowledged as he spoke to reporters in New Hampshire last week after formally registering for the state’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Still, some in Pence’s orbit believe he has important contributions left to make in the primary, particularly after the Hamas attack on Israel pushed foreign policy to the forefront. Pence has argued he is the most qualified candidate to deal with issues abroad, saying in the August debate that “now is not the time for on-the-job training.”

Pence, they say, feels a renewed sense of purpose given his warnings throughout the campaign against the growing tide of isolationism in the Republican Party. Pence has used the conflict to decry “voices of appeasement,” which he argues embolden groups like Hamas.

Another person cautioned that Pence, a devout Evangelical Christian who sees the campaign as a calling, may respond differently than other candidates might in his position if he feels called to stay in the race.

If he decides to exit, Pence would have a potential platform in Advancing American Freedom, the conservative think tank he founded after leaving the vice presidency.

In the meantime, the campaign has been working to cut costs, including having fewer staff members travel to events.

Regardless of what he decides, the predicament facing the former vice president underscores just how dramatically Trump has transformed the GOP.

Pence, in many ways, has been running to lead a party that no longer exists.

He has cast himself as the field’s most traditionally conservative candidate in the mold of Ronald Reagan. But many of his positions — from maintaining U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion to proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare — are out of step with much of his party’s base.

He also faces fallout from Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters — some chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” — stormed the Capitol building, sending him running for his life. Trump tried to falsely convince Pence and his own followers that the vice president somehow had the power to overturn the results.

Pence has repeatedly been confronted on the campaign trail by people who accuse him of betraying Trump, who still promotes falsehoods about the 2020 election, often several times a day.

But Pence has also faced the same challenge as every candidate in the field not named Trump, a singular figure whose grip on the party has only intensified as he has been charged with dozens of crimes.

“If something big doesn’t happen on Nov. 8, the primary is over. Some would argue it is now,” said Walker, who entered the 2016 Republican primary as a front-runner only to end his campaign in September 2015, months before a single vote was cast, amid mounting debt.

An August AP-NORC poll found Republicans split on Pence: 41% held a favorable view of the candidate and 42% an unfavorable one. Nationally, a majority of U.S. adults — 57% — view him negatively, with only 28% having a positive view.

Some are hoping Pence doesn’t give up. In Iowa, Kelley Koch, chair of the Dallas County Republican Party, said she felt Pence had struggled to define himself beyond Trump and said many remained skeptical of his actions on Jan. 6.

But she said following the attack on Israel, with all eyes now on the Middle East and a new war, that Pence could have a moment to break through.

“He is such a pro on foreign policy. That’s one of his strengths. And he has that over a lot of the new rookie candidates who are in the race. He should run on that,” she said. “I would think that that would be just a major trumpet setting the stage for Mike Pence to step up and take the mic.”
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Hamas Frees 2 American Hostages

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeUS

The latest:

Hamas released two American hostages Friday, a mother and her teenage daughter, who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ cross-border attack two weeks ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is "not giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people. … At the same time, we'll continue to fight until victory."
Israel said Friday it plans to evacuate Kiryat Shmona residents to state-funded guest houses. The city is near Israel’s border with Lebanon where there have been repeated rocket and missile attacks.
The death toll from the hospital strike in Gaza is now reported to be on the lower end of 100-300 people.
More than 1,400 Israelis, 4,100 Palestinians have been killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would “fight until victory” in Gaza, signaling there would be no pause in Israel’s bombing of the area or an expected invasion there despite Hamas’ release of two U.S. hostages.

“Two of our abductees are at home. We are not giving up on the effort to return all abducted and missing people,” Netanyahu said in a statement released Friday night.

“At the same time, we’ll continue to fight until victory,” he said.

His remarks came hours after two Americans, a mother and daughter from the Chicago area who also hold Israel citizenship, were released by Hamas. They were the first of what Israel says is more than 200 hostages held by the militant group in Gaza to be freed.

Reporters asked U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday as he was walking up the stairs to board Air Force One whether Israel should delay an invasion of Gaza until more hostages can be freed. Biden replied, “Yes,” but the White House said shortly afterward that Biden did not fully hear the question.

White House Communications Director Ben LaBolt said Biden was far away when the question was asked.

“The question sounded like ‘Would you like to see more hostages released?’ He wasn’t commenting on anything else,” LaBolt said.

Earlier Friday, Biden said he believed Hamas was motivated to attack Israel partly because the militant group wants to stop Israel from normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.

Biden told a campaign fundraiser in Washington on Friday that Hamas “knew I was about to sit down with the Saudis.”

The United States had been working toward bringing Israel and Saudi Arabia together to establish diplomatic relations following U.S. efforts in 2020 that succeeded in getting the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to recognize Israel.

Meanwhile early Saturday, Israeli planes bombed six homes in Gaza, killing at least eight Palestinians and injuring 45, Palestinian media said. According to the United Nations, 140,000 homes in Gaza have been damaged, which amounts to nearly a third of all homes in the territory. It says nearly 13,000 homes have been destroyed.

In Egypt, an official told The Associated Press that two trucks filled with aid entered the Egyptian side of the border crossing with Gaza early Saturday but said they have not passed through into the Gaza Strip.

Israel said Wednesday that that aid would be allowed into Gaza from Egypt, but the border has remained closed. Egypt says the crossing has been damaged by Israeli air strikes.

Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip on Friday night with airstrikes, amid warnings that Israeli forces could invade the Hamas-ruled territory at any time.

The Israel Defense Forces posted Friday on X, formerly known as Twitter: “During the night, fighter jets attacked over a hundred operational targets of the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, destroying tunnel shafts, munitions warehouses and dozens of operational headquarters.”

In other developments, Israel is planning to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona. Authorities said Friday that the residents will be placed in state-funded guest houses. The northern city is near Israel’s border with Lebanon and has been subjected to numerous rocket and missile attacks from Palestinian militant groups.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak traveled Friday to Egypt, his latest Middle Eastern destination, as the conflict continues to grow. Sunak has already met with Israeli leaders and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Sunak followed Biden with a visit to Israel to demonstrate Western support for the war against Hamas militants.

“You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism, and I want you to know that the United Kingdom and I stand with you,” Sunak said. Later, he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “We will stand with your people. And we also want you to win.”

Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told hundreds of thousands of the country’s ground troops to get ready to invade the Gaza Strip.

Gallant met with Israeli infantry soldiers positioned on the Gaza border, telling the forces to “get organized, be ready,” but did not say when the order would come for the invasion.

“Whoever sees Gaza from afar now, will see it from the inside,” he said. “I promise you.”

Israel has amassed 300,000 or more troops along the border following Hamas’ cross-border Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Biden said after his brief visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday that he had candid discussions with Israeli leaders as they conduct military strikes that have taken more than 3,400 lives in Gaza, many of them civilians.

“I was very blunt with the Israelis,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. Biden said that while Israel “has been badly victimized,” the country has “an opportunity to relieve the suffering” of innocent civilians in Gaza “who have nowhere to go.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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War in Gaza, Ukraine Key Focus for US-EU Summit

Posted on 10/21/2023 by SeeEU

The Israel-Hamas war and efforts to ensure continued support for Ukraine dominated a Friday summit between U.S. President Joe Biden, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Charles Michel. The conflicts overshadowed efforts to resolve long-running disputes between the United States and the European Union over Trump-era tariffs on European steel and aluminum and U.S. green subsidies. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports.
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3 Dead, Residents Trapped as Storm Babet Batters UK

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeEU

Three people died in Scotland and England and families were trapped in flooded homes Friday as Storm Babet moved east after pounding Ireland and headed for Scandinavia.

The U.K.’s Met Office issued a rare red severe weather warning for parts of eastern Scotland with “exceptional rainfall” of up to 22 centimeters (8.6 inches) forecast for Friday and Saturday.

Police said the body of a 57-year-old woman had been recovered after she was swept into a river in the county of Angus on Thursday afternoon.

A second person also died in Angus on Thursday evening after a falling tree hit the van the 56-year-old was driving.

A man in his 60s was dead Friday, washed away by waters that had flooded a road in Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire in central England, police said.

Officials in the southern Irish county of Cork, where hundreds of homes and businesses were flooded earlier in the week, described the deluge there as the worst in at least 30 years.

A community hospital for the elderly had to be evacuated in the town of Midleton, Cork, where the main street was up to four feet under water.

As the storm hit Scotland, Scottish leader Humza Yousaf warned Friday that he could not “stress how dangerous” conditions were, in the northeastern town of Brechin.

Emergency services were battling to reach trapped residents but being hampered by strong currents and flooding of up to 6 feet (nearly 2 meters).

“Around half the average monthly rainfall for October is expected to fall through tonight and tomorrow in areas that have already been severely affected by exceptional levels of rainfall,” Yousaf said late Friday.

“It’s just absolutely horrendous. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said local councilor Jill Scott, adding that hundreds of homes had been flooded.

Like a river

“People are trapped. … Some have been stuck there for hours. The boats are trying to get to them [but] they can’t get to them because the current is too strong. It’s all white water running round there. It’s like a river,” she added.

Fire crews and the coast guard began evacuating residents Thursday in Angus, knocking on doors and urging people to leave.

“Over 350 homes across Angus were contacted yesterday [Thursday] and advised to evacuate,” a spokesperson for Angus council said.

“Brechin, and increasingly other parts of Angus, are now only accessible via boat,” he added.

Train services meanwhile were severely disrupted as far south as central England due to heavy rainfall and high winds.

Some routes in northwest England and north Wales were completely closed due to flooding, rail officials said.

The Energy Networks Association said around 10,000 houses were without power in England while 45,000 others had been reconnected.

The Met Office has issued a string of less severe yellow and amber warnings indicating adverse weather conditions including flooding, heavy rain and high winds for other parts of central and northern England.
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As Israel Fights Hamas, Support for Palestinians Grows in Nigeria

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeAF

As Musa Abdullahi prepared for weekly Muslim prayers Friday, there was something else on his mind.

He said he’s worried about the war between Israel and Hamas — and he’s especially concerned about the plight of Palestinian Muslims.

Soon after prayers, Abdullahi joined other Muslims marching in the streets in support of Palestinians and to criticize Israel’s heavy bombardments in Gaza.

“You see people carrying Palestinian flags chanting slogans in support of the Palestinian people to say ‘no’ against injustice, most especially the women and children that are being brutally attacked by the Israeli soldiers,” said Musa Abdullahi.

Anger in Nigeria is growing along with the rising death toll in the Israeli-Hamas war. More than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack on southern Israel nearly two weeks ago, and more than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli retaliatory attacks since then.

Every year, more than 90,000 Nigerians visit holy sites in the Middle East. Nigerian authorities this week said they’re concerned about the escalation of violence there.

Last week, the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission suspended visits to Israel due to the ongoing crisis.

On Thursday, the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria held a news conference criticizing the killings, saying they are a violation of human rights.

The supreme council blamed the United States for voicing support for Israel and called on the United Nations to take a firm stance.

The council also urged Nigerian authorities to review the country’s relations with Israel.

“Apart from its criminality and lack of humanity, it also clearly shows [the] failure of global institutions established after the second world war to protect human beings,” said Sheikh Abdur-Rasheed Hadiyatullah, the president of the council. “The international community has failed to address the root cause of this conflict.”

This week, the U.S vetoed a U.N security council resolution that called for humanitarian pauses in the conflict to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip.

For now, many Nigerian pilgrims are watching and hoping that the fighting ends so that it is safe again for them to travel.
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Judge Fines Trump After Post Ordered Deleted Found on Campaign Website

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeUS

Former President Donald Trump was fined $5,000 on Friday after his disparaging social media post about a key court staffer in his New York civil fraud trial lingered on his campaign website for weeks after the judge ordered it deleted.

Judge Arthur Engoron did not hold Trump in contempt for now but reserved the right to do so — and possibly even put the 2024 Republican front-runner in jail — if he again violates a limited gag order barring case participants from personal attacks on court staff.

Engoron said in a written ruling that he is “way beyond the ‘warning’ stage,” but that he was only fining Trump a nominal amount because this was a “first time violation” and Trump’s lawyers said the website’s retention of the post had been inadvertent.

“Make no mistake: Future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions, which may include steeper financial penalties, holding Donald Trump in contempt of court, and possibly imprisoning him,” Engoron wrote in a two-page order.

Messages seeking comment on the ruling were left with Trump’s lawyers and a campaign spokesman.

Trump lawyer Christopher Kise earlier blamed the “very large machine” of Trump’s White House campaign for allowing the post to remain on the website after Trump had deleted it from social media, as ordered, calling it an unintentional oversight. It was removed from the website late Thursday after Engoron flagged it to Trump’s lawyers.

Trump wasn’t in court Friday. He’d been at the trial Tuesday and Wednesday after attending the first three days in early October. Outside court this week, he aimed his enmity at Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose fraud lawsuit is being decided at the civil trial.

Neither are covered by Engoron’s gag order.

Engoron, however, said the buck ultimately stops with Trump — even if it was someone on his campaign who failed to remove the offending post. He gave Trump 10 days to pay the fine.

“I want to be clear that Donald Trump is still responsible for the large machine even if it’s a large machine,” Engoron said after discussing the matter with Trump’s lawyers before testimony resumed Friday morning.

Engoron issued a limited gag order Oct. 3 barring all participants in the case from smearing his staff after Trump maligned principal law clerk Allison Greenfield in a post on Trump’s Truth Social platform. The post made a baseless insinuation about the clerk’s personal life.

“In the current overheated climate, incendiary untruths can, and in some cases already have, led to serious physical harm, and worse,” Engoron wrote Friday.

Before Trump deleted the post from Truth Social, as ordered, his campaign copied the message into an email blast. That email, with the subject line “ICYMI,” was automatically archived on Trump’s website, Kise said.

The email was sent to about 25,800 recipients on the campaign’s media list and opened by about 6,700 of them, Kise told Engoron after obtaining the statistics at the morning break. In all, only 3,700 people viewed the post on Trump’s campaign website, the lawyer said.

Attorney General James’ lawsuit accuses Trump and his company of duping banks and insurers by giving them heavily inflated statements of Trump’s net worth and asset values. Engoron has already ruled that Trump and his company committed fraud, but the trial involves remaining claims of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records.

Trump denies wrongdoing, arguing that a disclaimer on his financial statements absolves him of any culpability and that some of his assets are worth far more than what’s listed on the documents. He’s called the trial a “sham,” a “scam” and “a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time.”
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Russia Dismisses US Claims of North Korea Supplying Munitions to Moscow

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeUS

Russia’s top diplomat shrugged off U.S. claims that North Korea transferred munitions to Russia, saying Washington had failed to prove the allegation.

Russian state television broadcast Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s comments on Friday. Lavrov made a two-day trip to Pyongyang this week for talks on ways to boost the two countries’ ties following a September summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The White House said last week that North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and weapons to Russia. It released images that it said showed the containers had been loaded onto a Russian-flagged ship before being moved via train to southwestern Russia.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. believed Kim was seeking sophisticated Russian weapons technologies in return for the munitions to boost North Korea’s military and nuclear program.

Lavrov scoffed at the U.S. claims, saying “the Americans keep accusing everyone.”

“I don’t comment on rumors,” he added.

Since last year, the U.S. has accused North Korea of providing ammunition, artillery shells and rockets to Russia for the fighting in Ukraine. North Korea has steadfastly denied it shipped arms to Russia. South Korean officials charged that weapons provided by North Korea have been used in Ukraine.

When Kim visited Russia for six days last month, Russian and North Korean officials said that boosting defense ties between the two countries was discussed but they didn’t disclose specific steps.

On Thursday, Lavrov and Kim exchanged views on joint efforts to expand bilateral ties in all areas and discussed other key issues of mutual concern, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported. It said Kim expressed his resolve to carry out unspecified agreements he had reached with Putin during his Russian visit.

Lavrov described the talks as “comprehensive” and said, “We have an understanding on how to proceed to fulfill the agreements” between Putin and Kim.

After he arrived in Pyongyang, Lavrov gave a speech in which he said that Russia deeply valued North Korea’s “unwavering and principled support” for its military operation in Ukraine. Back in Moscow, he stressed that the effort to deepen the relationship between Russia and North Korea was based on bilateral concerns.

“Our friendship isn’t directed against anyone. It’s intended to help promote mutually beneficial projects,” he said.

Lavrov also told reporters that he supported holding regular talks on security issues on the Korean Peninsula with North Korea and China.
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US Sounds Alarm on Russian Election Efforts

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeUS

Russia’s efforts to discredit and undermine democratic elections appears to be expanding rapidly, according to newly declassified intelligence, spurred on by what the Kremlin sees as its success in disrupting the past two U.S. presidential elections.

The U.S. intelligence findings, shared in a diplomatic cable sent to more than 100 countries and obtained by VOA, are based on a review of Russian information operations between January 2020 and December 2022 that found Moscow “engaged in a concerted effort … to undermine public confidence in at least 11 elections across nine democracies.”

The review also found what the cable describes as “a less pronounced level of Russian messaging and social media activity” that targeted another 17 democracies.

“These figures represent a snapshot of Russian activities,” the cable warned. “Russia likely has sought to undermine confidence in democratic elections in additional cases that have gone undetected.

“Our information indicates that senior Russian government officials, including in the Kremlin, see value in this type of influence operation and perceive it to be effective,” the cable added.

VOA reached out to the Russian Embassy for comment on the cable warnings but so far has not received a response.

Russia has routinely denied allegations it interferes in foreign elections. However, last November, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared to admit culpability for interfering in U.S. elections in a social media post.

“Gentlemen, we interfered, we interfere and we will interfere,” Prigozhin said.

U.S. officials assess that, in addition to Russia’s efforts to sow doubt surrounding the 2016 and 2020 elections in the United States, Russian campaigns have targeted countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America.

The goal, they say, is specifically to erode public confidence in election results and to paint the newly elected governments as illegitimate — using internet trolls, social media influencers, proxy websites linked to Russian intelligence and even Russian state-run media channels like RT and Sputnik.

And even though Russia’s resources have been strained due to its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow election interference efforts do not seem to be slowing down.

It is “a fairly low cost, low barrier to entry operation,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the intelligence assessment.

“In many cases they’re amplifying existing domestic narratives that kind of question the integrity of elections,” the official said. “This is a very efficient use of resources. All they’re doing is magnifying claims that it’s unfair or it didn’t work or it’s chaotic.”

U.S. officials said they have started giving more detailed, confidential briefings to select countries that are being targeted by Russia. Some of the countries, they said, have likewise promised to share intelligence gathered from their own investigations.

Additionally, the cable makes a series of recommendations to counter the threat from the Russian disinformation campaigns, including for countries to expose, sanction and even expel any Russian officials involved in spreading misinformation or disinformation.

The cable also encourages democratic countries to engage in information campaigns to share factual information about their elections and to turn to independent election observers to assess and affirm the integrity of any elections.
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House Again Fails to Elect a Speaker

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeUS

The third time was not a charm for Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, hoping to become U.S. House speaker.

Twenty-five Republicans voted Friday morning against the arch-conservative congressman, while all Democrats cast voice votes for their party’s leader in the chamber, Hakeem Jeffries of New York — meaning no candidate hit the threshold of 217 votes needed to be elected speaker.

Three more Republicans voted against Jordan in the third round than in the second.

Later in the day, Republicans dropped Jordan as their speaker nominee in a private meeting. Majority Leader Steve Scalise said party members would go home “and start over” on Monday in their search for a candidate.

The House has been paralyzed for more than two weeks since eight Republicans joined with Democrats in a historic vote to remove California Republican Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday was dispatching to Congress a $106 billion foreign aid request, primarily composed of money to aid Israel and Ukraine in their wars against Hamas and Russia, respectively.

Until the House elects a speaker, the body will not be able to vote on any spending bills. The House faces a November 17 deadline when funding for the entire federal government runs out. If no new funding measure is approved, millions of members of the U.S. military and federal workers will not be paid.

Jordan was a favorite of the Republicans who are closely allied with former President Donald Trump, the party’s leading candidate in next year’s race for the presidency. Other Republicans rebelled against Jordan’s strongarm tactics to get elected speaker, and many expressed that he was not suited to lead, as during his 16 years in Congress he has never sponsored a bill that became law.

“Jim Jordan is an effective legislator,” McCarthy said in his third-round nomination speech in support of his fellow Republican. That remark prompted laughter and jeering from the Democrats, who have not seen a single member of their caucus vote for anyone else except Jeffries in the numerous rounds this year to elect speakers.

Prior to the third round, Republican Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida told reporters Jordan was not going to gather enough votes to be victorious, no matter how many rounds of voting members had to endure.

“There is a time when you have to put country above ego and self,” he said. “It gets to a point where this now becomes just an egofest.”

Jeffries, at a news conference earlier Friday, said Jordan was a “clear and present danger to our democracy” because the Republican attempted to overturn the 2020 election on behalf of Trump.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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US Official Says Gabon’s Return to Civilian Rule Is Vital

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeAF

A top U.S. official on African affairs says there is a need for a quick transition to civilian rule in Gabon after a coup in August, but coup leaders have yet to make public when they would hand power back to civilians.

Following a coup in August, Washington suspended most nonhumanitarian aid to the central African nation. Judd Devermont, a special assistant to U.S. President Joe Biden, met with military leaders Thursday in the Gabonese capital, Libreville.

Devermont said he met with Gabon’s coup leader, General Brice Oligui Nguema and the military-appointed Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima.

Devermont said that during separate meetings with Nguema and Sima, he focused on returning to constitutional order in Gabon.

“I came here all the way from Washington, to meet with the government to discuss the transition to civilian rule and having free and fair elections,” Devermont said. “President Biden is committed to deepening our partnership with African partners, countries and people and we stand strongly in solidarity with the Gabonese people.”

Gabon state TV reported that Nguema reiterated after the meeting he will return power to civilian rule at the end of the transition, but he did not announce a timeframe.

Gabon’s military government said it told the U.S. delegation that contributions and suggestions from citizens are being received ahead of a “national dialogue” that is scheduled for December. Gabon’s caretaker government says the military junta is undertaking initiatives to restore stability, carry out institutional and legislative reforms, fight corruption, ensure sustainable economic development and improve living conditions of poor civilians in the oil-producing nation before organizing elections.

Nguema, a former commander of the Republican Guard, was sworn in as Gabon’s transitional president after a group of Gabon military officers seized power on August 30 and put President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest.

Shortly before the coup, the Gabonese Election Center had declared Bongo winner of the August 26 election, but the opposition denounced the election as fraudulent.

The military then seized power and said it saved Gabon from an armed conflict that was being prepared by the opposition.

Ellen Thorburn, United States ambassador to Gabon, was part of the U.S. delegation.

She said the delegation — sent by Biden after listening to Gabon’s military junta’s plans to organize a national dialogue before preparing elections — hopes that transition to civilian rule will be within the shortest possible period of time.

Thorburn said issues related to American assistance to Gabon after the military seized power were raised during discussions with Gabon’s new leaders. She said her delegation told Nguema and Ndong that President Biden’s administration intends to have good relations with all African states including Gabon.

Last month, the U.S. suspended foreign assistance programs benefiting the central African government while evaluating the unconstitutional military intervention in the country’s democracy.

Coup leaders have said international sanctions placed on Gabon by the African Union and the U.N. to pressure Nguema to return to constitutional order could be devastating to the country’s economy but added that the military junta needs time to carry out reforms before a return to civilian rule.

Jean Cedric Obame Emane, a defense and security consultant at Gabon’s University Omar Bongo, said he is convinced that Nguema can return power to civilian rule in less than three years.

“The issue of legitimacy will always come forth, but during the day of the military coup, people [civilians] did not go out to challenge the military forces, they did not go to the street to engage the military forces,” Emane said. “They [civilians] were celebrating. I believe the organizing of elections is not the only challenge that he has. He has economic issues, social issues at the same time. The number one challenge he has is not only elections.”

Emane spoke with VOA via a messaging app from Libreville.

Despite halting aid, the U.S. is maintaining diplomatic and consular operations in the oil-rich central African country.
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Student Clashes on US College Campuses Over the Israel-Hamas War

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeUS

The Israel-Hamas war has animated students on college campuses across the United States. As young people voice their opinions, there are questions of safety, free speech rights and even future job prospects. VOA’s Tina Trinh reports from New York
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AI Chatbot Empowers Kenyans to Navigate Legal Obstacles

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeAF

A Kenyan IT practitioner created Wakili — which means “lawyer” — an AI tool to help Kenyan citizens learn the country’s laws and how to seek justice. It is aimed at a wide range of users, including individuals, legal professionals and organizations in need of assistance with legal issues. Wakili’s developer was inspired by how people, including his father, struggle to get justice. Mohammed Yusuf reports.
Camera: Mohammed Yusuf
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UK: Ukraine Probably Destroyed Russian Helicopters

Posted on 10/20/2023 by SeeEU

Ukrainian forces “likely” scored hits on Russian air defense equipment and helicopters earlier this week at the Berdyansk and Luhansk airfields, the British Defense Ministry said Friday in its daily intelligence update on Ukraine.

The ministry’s report said nine helicopters at Berdyansk and five at Luhansk were “likely” destroyed.

Ukraine says it used U.S.-provided long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time in the attacks.

If the report about the helicopters is confirmed, the British Defense Ministry said, “it is highly likely these losses will have an impact on Russia’s ability to defend and conduct further offensive activity” in the affected areas. It said Russia would also have difficulty replacing the helicopters.

The loss of the equipment is “likely” placing more pressure on the Russian pilots who are “almost certainly suffering combat exhaustion and maintenance issues due to the unanticipated protracted campaign,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily address that he had talked with U.S. President Joe Biden Thursday about how the missiles could help “speed up” Ukraine’s liberation from Russia.

The two leaders also talked about the situation in the Middle East.

“No matter what happens, all parties must ensure that ordinary civilians receive the necessary assistance and are able to flee hostilities,” Zelenskyy said about the conflict in Israel. “Any form of terror and warmongering is unacceptable.”
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