Month: March 2024

US Eyes April 18 to Potentially Resume Sudan Peace Talks in Jeddah

Posted on by SeeAF

state department — The United States is eyeing April 18 for the potential resumption of Sudan peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as part of Washington’s efforts to mitigate a dire humanitarian disaster and prevent the conflict from escalating into a regional war.

Nearly a year into Sudan’s civil war, the country is grappling with the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.

Tom Perriello, U.S. special envoy for Sudan, told reporters on Tuesday that these talks need to be “inclusive,” involving the African Union, the East African bloc IGAD, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

“We need the partners in the room who are necessary to get this war to end,” he said.

Perriello warned that the conflict in Sudan is not just a disaster for civilians but could easily become “a more factionalized and regional war.”

“There’s an important donor conference in Paris on the 15th,” Perriello said, referring to a planned ministerial meeting in April to relieve Sudan’s humanitarian crisis. “And we would certainly see natural momentum from that to return to Jeddah if the Saudis are indeed going to host inclusive talks.”

The United States and Saudi Arabia have brokered multiple cease-fires between Sudan’s warring parties and facilitated talks in Jeddah last year, but the negotiations stumbled amid competing international peace efforts.

The United Nations, the African Union and regional group IGAD have all appointed special representatives on Sudan. Gulf states have also convened a series of meetings in Jeddah and in Bahrain’s capital, Manama.

Fighting erupted in April last year between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Once allies in Sudan’s transitional government after a 2021 coup, the two generals have turned into rivals for power.

U.S. officials have said their priority in Sudan is to secure a peace deal that immediately ends the violence, ensures full humanitarian access to all citizens and facilitates the country’s return to civilian governance.

In January, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions targeting entities funding the conflict in Sudan. However, analysts have pointed out the challenges faced by Washington and the constraints of time.

“A political appointee arriving in the job in potentially the last year of the [Biden] administration he serves is dealing from a weak deck already,” said Cameron Hudson, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The possibility that his interlocutors could simply choose to wait him out is quite real.”

He added that attempts to merge various peace initiatives are “likely not a productive use of time given the calamitous state of Sudan’s fighting and humanitarian situations.”

The war has led to thousands of deaths, a massive displacement crisis and large-scale atrocities, particularly against non-Arab communities in the country’s Darfur region.

On March 8, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a cease-fire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but the warring parties have ignored it.

Sudan is now home to the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, with 6.3 million people forced from their homes in search of safety. Another 1.7 million have fled to neighboring countries. More than 70% of health facilities in conflict areas have stopped functioning.

U.S. officials have also warned that Sudan’s civil war could trigger the world’s largest hunger crisis.

“I am headed to the refugee camps in Chad with a CODEL [congressional delegation] that’s going in a couple of days. Even in those camps, there are children who are living on less than one meal a day,” said Perriello, referring to refugee camps in Chad that take in Sudanese civilians.

Last week, the United States announced over $47 million in humanitarian assistance for the emergency response in Sudan and neighboring countries, including Chad and South Sudan.

VOA’s Margaret Besheer contributed this report from the United Nations.
…

your ad here

Trump Faces Gag Order in New York Hush Money Criminal Case

Posted on by SeeUS

NEW YORK — Donald Trump on Tuesday was hit with a judge’s gag order sought by prosecutors in his upcoming criminal trial involving hush money paid to a porn star, restricting him from publicly commenting about witnesses and court staff. 

Ahead of the former U.S. president’s trial, which is scheduled to begin April 15 in the New York state court, Justice Juan Merchan granted a request for the order made last month by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. 

The prosecution sought an order blocking Trump from “making or directing others to make” statements about witnesses concerning their role in the case and from commenting on court staff and prosecutors other than Bragg himself. 

Silencing Trump was necessary because of his “longstanding history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges and others involved in legal proceedings against him,” prosecutors said.  

Trump’s lawyers argued that a gag order would violate his right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, leaving him defenseless against attacks by political opponents over the case. 

Merchan separately ruled on March 7 that jurors were to remain anonymous except to Trump, his lawyers, prosecutors and a handful of others, after prosecutors highlighted Trump’s history of publicly deriding trial jurors and grand jurors. 

Bragg’s case is one of four criminal indictments the Republican presidential candidate faces, with Trump pleading not guilty in all the cases and portraying them as politically motivated. 

It could be the only case to reach trial before his expected Nov. 5 rematch with President Joe Biden. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide reimbursements to his former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Trump a decade earlier. 

Trump has denied having the encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.  

The requested gag order was similar to restrictions a federal judge imposed last year in a criminal case over Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. 

Trump also faces state criminal charges in Georgia over his push to reverse the 2020 results, and federal criminal charges in Florida over his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving the White House in 2021.  

In a separate civil fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, another New York state judge fined Trump $15,000 last year for twice violating a gag order against publicly talking about court staff.  

Trump is appealing a $454.2 million judgment in that case for misstating the values of his family real estate company’s properties to dupe lenders. On March 25, a midlevel state appeals court paused that judgment as long as Trump posts a smaller $175 million bond within 10 days. 
…

your ad here

UNICEF: Climate Change Leaves ‘Dire Situation’ for 45 Million African Children

Posted on by SeeAF

Harare, Zimbabwe — The United Nations children’s fund says there is a “dire situation” in several eastern and southern African countries, where at least 45 million children are dealing with severe food insecurity made worse by climate change.

In a statement, Eva Kadilli, the UNICEF director for eastern and southern Africa, said millions of people are living through multiple and often overlapping crises intensified by the 2023-24 El Nino weather phenomenon, one of the strongest on record. 

Christiane Rudert, a nutrition adviser for UNICEF in eastern and southern Africa, told VOA that many countries in her region have very high rates of child stunting or acute malnutrition. She said the rates are getting worse because of extreme weather patterns, such as a prolonged heat wave and drought, associated with climate change. 

“For example, in Malawi, affected by the current El Nino phenomenon, data from the routine nutrition program showed a worsening of the nutrition status of children and increased admissions for acute malnutrition,” Rudert said. “Almost half of the 21 countries are at the very highest risk of climate change impacts for children in this region. Even small gains in nutrition are now being reversed before our eyes.” 

Wongani Grace Taulo, UNICEF regional education adviser for eastern and southern Africa, said UNICEF is attempting to help children and their families learn ways of coping with climate change through the schools.  

“UNICEF is working with partners, but specifically governments, [other] U.N. agencies, civil society, and communities to integrate climate education into the education system, particularly on infrastructure, the use of renewable energy and waste management,” Taulo said.

“Let me mention Zimbabwe, where we are working with the government on the clean green schools initiative,” Taulo added, “where all aspects of climate change strategies are actually integrated into how we are delivering education from the school to the community and creating an ecosystem that is going to be able to address the effects of climate change.” 

While that may help southern Africa in the long term, many Zimbabweans are concerned with their situation here and now.

Elita Ncube said her family is living in poverty, and her three children struggle to go to school because of irregular meals. 

She said there is nothing to eat from the fields. In the past, she said, she has survived by selling mopane worms, but this year there is nothing to sell. Her animals have no water to drink, and her goats and cattle will die, she said. 

Ncube once had donors that helped with food, she added, and she wishes they would return, or at least give her work to do in exchange for food.

July Moyo, the minister of social welfare, said Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s government will not rush to join Malawi and Zambia in declaring the current drought a national disaster.

Moyo said there is no scientific reason to warrant a disaster declaration.
…

your ad here

West Reliant on Russian Nuclear Fuel Amid Decarbonization Push

Posted on by SeeEU

London — A new report and research from a British defense research group has found that many Western nations are still reliant on Russian nuclear fuel to power their reactors, despite efforts to sever economic ties with the Kremlin following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

“Russia may be able to take advantage of incongruencies in sanctions or other restrictions, as well as persistent contractual dependencies and supply challenges, to maintain access to Western nuclear fuel supply chains and continue generating revenue through its enriched uranium exports,” the Royal United Services Institute, or RUSI, says in its report.  

Rosatom 

Of those supplying nuclear fuel, Rosatom, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation, “is the biggest supplier of uranium enrichment to the global market” and has continued to export significant volumes of enriched uranium product since February 2022. The report estimates that Russia sold enriched uranium worth $2.7 billion in 2023. 

Rosatom supplied some 30 percent of the enriched uranium purchased by European Union states in 2022, and 23 percent of that purchased by U.S. utility companies, according to the RUSI analysis of publicly available statistics. Not all countries publish their import or export figures for nuclear materials. 

Western companies may be finding it difficult to change long-term contracts with Rosatom, said Darya Dolzikova, author of the RUSI report. “In the enriched uranium space in particular, there are historical dependencies, so there are contractual obligations that might be difficult for certain utilities to get out of,” she told VOA. 

French dependency 

France, which has 56 nuclear reactors generating around two-thirds of the country’s electricity, is one of Russia’s biggest customers for enriched uranium, despite growing political tensions between Paris and Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine. 

“Imports into France of Russian enriched uranium have increased significantly since the start of 2022. So there was an increase of about 184 percent in volume,” Dolzikova said.

French utility EDF is even planning a joint venture with Russia’s state-run Rosatom to process uranium at a site in Lingen, Germany.  

The RUSI report also details Russian uranium exports to the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. “Russia is still the biggest exporter of enriched uranium and enrichment services globally. They account for about 44% total capacity of enrichment services,” Dolzikova added. 

Decarbonization 

Global enthusiasm for nuclear power fell after the 2011 Fukushima reactor meltdown in Japan.  

However, as countries try to slash carbon emissions to combat climate change, many governments are rethinking their approach to atomic power. At a March 21 meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Brussels, several world leaders called for a reinvestment in nuclear power.   

“Adapting supply chains take time. And doing it in a secure and reliable way takes time. But it is clearly one of the assignments to the industry and to governments working on this, is to adapt supply chains as fast as possible and also … to disconnect from Russian supply,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told delegates at the IAEA meeting. 

“But we need to balance things, I mean, in a sense, if you want to decarbonize, if you want to reduce CO2 production, we need to make sure that our nuclear power plants can continue,” De Croo added. 

China ‘displacement’ 

The report says Russian exports to China have also increased, raising suspicions that Beijing could be importing Russian enriched uranium to facilitate greater exports of China’s own enriched uranium supply — so-called “displacement.” 

“We know that China is also keen to increase its own role, expanded zone role on global nuclear fuel markets. So that raises questions as to whether the additional imports into China of Russian uranium could potentially be backing increased exports of Chinese material. That is very difficult to prove definitively,” said report author Dolzikova. 

Self-sufficiency 

Western nations are trying to boost their nuclear self-sufficiency. France is boosting uranium enrichment capacity by more than 30 percent at a site in the southern region of Valence, according to nuclear industry reports. The American firm Westinghouse and Ukrainian firm Energoatom have begun producing nuclear fuel that can supply former Soviet reactors in eastern Europe, from a site in Sweden.   

Dolzikova of RUSI said it will take at least two years for the West to end its reliance on Russian nuclear fuel. While boosting Western enrichment capacity is vital, the RUSI report also recommends that trade measures are tightened to cut Russia out of global markets. 

“Sanctions — or any kind of restrictions — need to be multilateral. Otherwise, because of the complexity of enriched uranium supply chains and fuel supply chains, Russia will find the weakest link in that wall of restrictions to try to continue accessing Western markets,” Dolzikova added.
…

your ad here

West Reliant on Russian Nuclear Fuel Amid Decarbonization Push

Posted on by SeeEU

An analysis by Britain’s Royal United Services Institute has found that many Western nations still rely on Russian nuclear fuel to power their reactors, despite efforts to sever economic ties with the Kremlin following its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
…

your ad here

South Sudan Opposition Parties Criticize New Election Laws 

Posted on by SeeAF

Juba, South Sudan     — A new electoral regulation in South Sudan has received harsh criticism from opposition parties that see the move as a way to lock them out of the forthcoming general election that will be a first for the world’s youngest nation.

Key opposition parties in South Sudan have termed a contentious electoral law as a scheme by the government to keep them out of upcoming elections in December.

The Coalition of Opposition Parties presented a petition to the country’s Political Party Council Monday demanding revocation of the $50,000 registration fee imposed on parties seeking to field candidates in the upcoming polls.

The world’s youngest nation is set to have its first democratically elected government in December this year.

But parties like the People’s Progressive Party, SSOA, Coalition of Opposition Parties and United People’s Party now see the newly registration fee as an attempt by the government to stifle democracy and restrict the participation of opposition parties in the polls.

Opposition politician Lam Akol is the leader of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and had challenged President Salva Kiir in the first election held in 2010 when South Sudan was seceding from Sudan.

“How many parties will afford $50,000?” he said

In 2010 parties had been required to pay about $150 as a registration fee.

Riek Machar, chairperson of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), the main opposition party in the transitional government, blames President Kiir’s side of the government for failing the people of South Sudan. Machar insists that they will not take part in the election unless all the pending chapters in the peace agreement are fully implemented.

Opposition leaders also say they don’t have faith in the local judicial process should they feel the need to challenge the outcome of the election. Gabriel Akok, chairperson of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), claims that, as currently constituted the judiciary is controlled by government sympathizers.

“Considering the current situation in South Sudan, we are not sure, everyone is not quite sure that we can petition the election results when they are not free and fair, simply because the judiciary is headed by an active member of the SPLM, the current ruling political party in South Sudan,” said Akok.

South Sudan is currently under a transitional government whose term is set to end with the election in December.
…

your ad here

Taiwan Conducts Missile Drills ‘in Face of’ China Military Intrusions 

Posted on by SeeEA

Yilan, Taiwan — Taiwan conducted an air defense test on Tuesday deploying US-made Patriot missiles and its anti-aircraft artillery systems, saying it will ramp up training in the face of Chinese military “intrusions” around the self-ruled island.

Beijing claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will not rule out using force to bring the island under its control.

Chinese warplanes and ships maintain a near-daily presence around the island, as Beijing has ramped up military pressure against Taipei using what experts say are “grey zone” actions — tactics that stop short of outright acts of war.

Taiwan’s Air Force Command said it conducted an exercise between 5:00 and 7:00 am (2100-2300 GMT Monday) that included the island’s domestically made Sky Bow and U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air missiles along with army and navy units.

“The aim was to verify the command and control of joint air defence operations among the three branches of the military,” it said, adding that the exercise went smoothly.

“In the face of frequent intrusions by PLA aircraft and vessels into the airspace and waters surrounding Taiwan, the Air Force will continue to enhance training intensity to respond to potential threats.”

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen rejects China’s claim over the island, causing Beijing to cut all high-level communications since she came into power in 2016.

She has ramped up defense spending during her eight years in office, acquiring military weapons and developing Taiwan-made equipment, like submarines and ships.

Tuesday, Tsai oversaw the handover of two domestically made warships — both Tuo Chiang-class corvettes — at Suao port in northeast Yilan county.

“Over the past few years, we have steadily implemented defense autonomy with Taiwan-made warships being named, launched, and commissioned one after another at an increasingly rapid pace,” Tsai said in a speech.

“These achievements repeatedly demonstrate Taiwan’s capacity for domestic shipbuilding and proves our determination to safeguard our democracy and freedom.”

She also praised the warships — designed for stealthy multi-missions and easily maneuvered — for being a year ahead of schedule.

Taipei’s defense ministry said 13 Chinese aircraft and seven navy vessels were spotted around Taiwan in the 24 hours leading up to 6:00 am Tuesday.

Last week, Taiwan detected 36 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a 24-hour window, the highest single-day number this year so far.
…

your ad here

Supporters Want Cameroon’s Four-Decade President, 91, to Run Again

Posted on by SeeAF

Yaounde, Cameroon — Supporters are urging the world’s oldest leader, 91-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, to run for office in the 2025 presidential election, potentially extending his more than four-decade rule.

They say Biya is the only one who can bring peace and development to the country, but the opposition says Biya must leave office after running Cameroon for decades.

Several hundred people sang in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, on Sunday, calling for Biya to accept the nomination of the Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, or CPDM party, in the 2025 presidential election.

Biya created the CPDM on March 24, 1985, three years after his predecessor, Cameroon’s first president, Ahmadou Ahidjo, stepped down due to ill health and handed power to Biya.

Biya has been president of Cameroon since 1982 and leader of his party since 1985.

During the party’s 39th anniversary on Sunday, party officials organized rallies in all Cameroon towns and villages to ask people to support Biya as their candidate in the 2025 elections.

Senior CPDM official Fru Jonathan described Biya as the party’s natural candidate, saying there is peace, unity and economic growth in the country. Jonathan said Biya is strong and healthy.

“We think that you don’t change a winning team,” Jonathan said. “If there is any challenger, let him come up, but we have not seen any challenger who can beat our candidate, so we all rely on him and call on him to continue to rule and bring our country to emergence as that is his vision.”

Biya has not said if he will be a candidate.

Cameroon senior state functionaries appointed by Biya, along with Biya’s party officials, credit the long-serving leader for constructing at least 6,000 kilometers of roads, providing electricity and water to towns and villages, and building several hundred classrooms and hospitals.

But Cameron’s opposition and civil society disagree with that positive assessment, saying under Biya the Cameroon Bank and the Fund for Agricultural Development created to fund farmers’ projects crumbled.

The opposition also says corruption has become widespread during Biya’s rule, with Transparency International ranking Cameroon as the most corrupt country in 1998 and 1999.

Cabral Libii, 44, an opposition parliamentarian with Cameroon’s Party for National Reconciliation, or PCRN, placed third in Cameroon’s 2018 presidential elections.

Libii said Cameroonian youth will not continue to watch Biya cripple the economy, deprive civilians of their liberties and freedoms, and rule Cameroon with an iron fist while now showing signs of being ruler for life.

He said Biya is the cause of sorrows brought about by extremely high unemployment, underemployment and crises in the English-speaking western regions that have claimed more than 6,000 lives.

Libii said Cameroon opposition and civil society are organizing themselves to present a candidate to oust Biya, whom they describe as elderly and frail to the point he is hardly seen in public.

Libii said Cameroon needs young dynamic leaders to salvage the country from underdevelopment.

Opponents said many youths were hired to take part in rallies to give the false impression that Biya is popular.

Both the government and Biya’s CPDM party officials deny that civilians, especially poor youth, were hired.

At 91, Biya is the oldest leader in the world and the second-longest-serving president after his neighbor, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.

Biya’s party says he has won all presidential elections since the return of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990, but the opposition says previous elections have been marred by fraud.
…

your ad here

Explosion Near Kenya Police Station Kills 4

Posted on by SeeAF

NAIROBI, Kenya — An explosion at a small hotel located near a police station in northeastern Kenya killed four people, including three officers, and wounded several others on Monday, authorities said.

The blast in the town of Mandera, which is on the border with Somalia, was caused by an improvised explosive device that had been planted at the hotel and was detonated as a crowd of people sat down to eat breakfast, police said.

Mandera police chief Samwel Mutunga said that two of those wounded were in critical condition and would be flown to the capital, Nairobi.

Investigators have blamed east Africa-based extremist group al-Shabab for the attack. The group, which hasn’t claimed responsibility for the explosion, has staged major attacks in Kenya and neighboring Somalia.

The latest attack followed another one on Sunday in coastal Kenya’s Lamu County, where two police reservists were killed. 

The area has a forest, which has often been the site of security operations because it’s a known hideout of al-Shabab militants. 

During a police operation in Garissa County on Sunday, officers recovered materials to make IEDs, an AK-47 rifle and two magazines. Three people escaped during the raid.

The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border, from where militants have in the past infiltrated and launched attacks.

The Kenyan government had last year announced plans to reopen the border with Somalia, but later postponed the reopening because of extremist attacks.
…

your ad here

Nigeria Sues Cryptocurrency Firm Binance for Tax Evasion  

Posted on by SeeAF

abuja, nigeria — Nigerian authorities on Monday slapped four counts of tax evasion on cryptocurrency exchange company Binance and said it was seeking collaboration with Interpol to arrest an official of the company who fled custody last week.

The charges stemmed from an investigation of the company’s Nigerian office for alleged attempts to manipulate Nigeria’s currency.

Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Services said Monday that Binance had flouted four tax laws by failing to pay company income tax, failing to pay value added tax, not complying with tax return filing obligations and facilitating tax evasion for Binance users.

The government also said Binance had failed to register for tax purposes with authorities.

Binance in the past has denied any wrongdoing in Nigeria. The company did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.

Nigerian authorities on February 26 detained two of the company’s executives — Tigran Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, and Nadeem Anjawalla, a British Kenyan.

Eze Onyekpere, founder of the Center for Social Justice, said the arrests and charges were largely expected.

“It shouldn’t be surprising that they may have violated Nigerian laws,” Onyekpere said. “Nigeria is not the only country that has been charging the executives with violating their laws. The only reasonable thing to do is to bring them before the court and be given the opportunity to defend themselves. Due process and fair hearing must be followed.”

Meanwhile, on Monday, the office of the national security adviser said Anjawalla had escaped detention. The security adviser said authorities were working with international police to obtain a warrant for his arrest.

Binance said it was aware one of its officials was no longer in custody.

Nigerian authorities introduced bold reforms last year, including currency controls, in a bid to boost the economy.

But months after their implementation, the naira lost about 70 percent of its value. Authorities say companies like Binance played a role by trying to manipulate the currency.

But public finance expert Isaac Botti said it couldn’t have happened if the government hadn’t been so negligent toward firms like Binance that exploited the system to their advantage.

“Our system has been designed to be porous, and this is the advantage these guys take,” Botti said. “They understand the system. In a sane clime, you do not create room for this kind of porosity in your system.”

Earlier this month, Binance ended all transactions and trading in Nigeria’s local currency and said any remaining balances would be automatically converted into tether — a cryptocurrency stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.
…

your ad here

Shohei Ohtani Says He Never Bet on Sports, Interpreter Stole Money, Told Lies

Posted on by SeeUS

Los Angeles — Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani said Monday he never bet on sports and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara stole money from him and told lies.

Ohtani held a news conference at Dodger Stadium, five days after Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well over $1 million.

“I am very saddened and shocked someone whom I trusted has done this,” the Japanese baseball star said sitting next to Will Ireton, the team’s manager of performance operations, who translated.

Ohtani spoke for nearly 12 minutes, referring to a document in front of him. He did not take questions.

“Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies,” Ohtani said. “I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker.”

A two-time Most Valuable Player, Ohtani left the Los Angeles Angels in December to sign a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers.

“I never bet on baseball or any other sports or have never asked somebody to do it on my behalf and I have never gone through a bookmaker to bet on sports. And I was never asked to assist betting payment for anyone else,” Ohtani said.

The Internal Revenue Service has confirmed that Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office.

Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani paid his gambling debts at the interpreter’s request and the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. Major League Baseball rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally on baseball — and also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.

ESPN said Mizuhara changed his story the following day, claiming Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.

“All of this has been a complete lie,” Ohtani said. “Ippei obviously basically didn’t tell me about the media inquiry. So Ippei has been telling everyone around that he has been communicating with me on this account to the media and my team and that hasn’t been true.”

Ohtani said he first became aware of Mizuhara’s gambling problem during a team meeting after last Wednesday’s game with San Diego in Seoul, South Korea.
…

your ad here

Russian Activists Warn Putin Will Use Terrorist Attack to Tighten His Grip on Power

Posted on by SeeEU

Geneva — Russian activists are warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use the deadly terrorist attack on a concert hall outside Moscow to tighten his grip on power and further repress society.

“It truly scares me how this regime uses terrorism,” said Evgenia Kara-Murza, a human rights activist and wife of political prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Addressing reporters a press conference in Geneva, she warned that Putin would likely use Friday’s horrific event “to start new aggressions against our neighbors.”

“And, of course, the fact that the terrorists were caught near the Ukrainian border raises many questions as to whether it is a provocation or whether the terrorist attack is being used as such,” she said.

Though the militant Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed at least 137 people and injured some 182 others, the Kremlin has been trying, without any evidence, to link the attack to Ukraine.

Kara-Murza said she doubts that Putin will even investigate the attack, noting that there were no investigations into previous attacks that occurred after the Chechen war in 1999 and the Beslan school massacre in 2004.

In a report on the Beslan attack for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Leonid Velekhov, a former aide to Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, reported that the official investigation “ignored any question of responsibility on the part of federal authorities or the local command center for the high price paid for the liberation of Beslan’s surviving hostages.”

Kara-Murza also said she was scared by calls by members of Putin’s regime to bring back the death penalty following Friday’s attack on the concert hall.

“If the death penalty were reinstated, it would first be used against those people who were being accused of terrorism.

“People accused of terrorism in today’s Russia include activists or just regular citizens who were trying to set conscription centers on fire,” she said, referring to 28 arson attempts on Russian military enlistment offices in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea between July 29 and August 2.

Kara-Murza said the lives of political prisoners are at risk, and that she fears for her husband, who is serving a 25-year sentence for treason, charges he denies.

Sergei Davidis, head of the political prisoners support program at the Memorial human rights center, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, said that pictures of the four men accused of the concert hall terror attack showed signs of severe beating, indicating that they had been tortured.

He observed that mass torture of those charged with terrorism and other crimes has been a common occurrence in Russia. However, what is different this time is that for the first time, this practice of torture “was made public,” he said.

“They think, I am sure, that they will be supported by the people. … They decided now that there is no reason to conceal their methods. They are not limited by the European Court of Human Rights now. They just were honest this time because they decided it was possible,” he said. “Unfortunately, it is rather a bad sign.”

Davidis expressed concern that a more emboldened Russia would likely increase the hardships and levels of cruelty and brutality to which political prisoners are exposed daily.

According to Memorial, around 700 people are imprisoned in Russia for exercising their human rights and freedoms; among them are at least 250 people imprisoned because of their anti-war stance.

“Those people who support Ukraine are actively aggressed” by the authorities, he said. “Any expression of opposition, any statement that contradicts official propaganda narratives, are ground for the deprivation of liberty.”

OVD-Info, another human rights project, provides data on 3,679 people subjected to politically motivated criminal prosecution in Russia.

Violetta Fitsner, a lawyer with OVD-Info, said, “All these people are in danger, especially those who have poor health and are punished for their activities.”

Citing Navalny, who died in prison February 16, Fitsner said, “About 70% of prisoners deprived of liberty on political grounds, who have poor health, are denied medical care,” adding that many have serious physical and mental issues.

“We demand the immediate release of political prisoners whose health and lives are in danger,” she said.

Davidis said Russian prisons are teeming with prisoners of conscience, including people trying to evade conscription into the army and thousands of religious minorities who are deprived of their liberty for practicing their faith.

“The prosecution and deprivation of liberty is the foundation of Putin’s regime,” he said. “The release of Russian political prisoners must become a condition of any easing of sanctions against Russia, and of any peace settlement for Ukraine.”
…

your ad here

Some Families in Massachusetts Shelters Will Have to Document Efforts to Find Path Out

Posted on by SeeUS

BOSTON — Families staying in overflow shelter sites in Massachusetts will soon have to document each month their efforts to find a path out of the overflow system, including looking for housing or a job, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced Monday. 

Beginning May 1, families will have to be recertified monthly to remain eligible to stay in the state-run overflow sites. 

They will need to show what steps they’ve taken to work toward independence, including applying for work authorization permits, participating in a workforce training program, submitting job applications, taking English classes or searching for housing, according to the administration. 

Healey said the requirement is critical as a means of accountability. 

“It’s important as we look to manage this responsibly,” she told reporters Monday. 

Healey acknowledged there could be good reasons why certain individuals are not able to fulfill the requirements, but warned those who aren’t putting in the effort could lose their place in line for the state’s shelter system. 

“If they don’t have a good reason for not fulfilling requirements then they will lose their spot,” she said. “The whole idea of this is to divert people from our emergency shelter system, to get them on a different path.” 

The policy does not apply to sites operated by the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, a charitable organization. 

Immigrant advocates say they’re worried the new regulations will complicate the lives of homeless migrants who are already focused on leaving the shelter system. 

“We are deeply concerned that forcing families to reapply for emergency shelter each month will create unnecessary red tape, sow confusion, and ultimately, place more families on the street,” said Elizabeth Sweet of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition. 

State and federal officials should instead focus on providing community service organizations the resources they need to support arrivals in pursuing work authorization, long-term housing and case management services, she said. 

Massachusetts has been grappling with the growing influx of homeless migrant families seeking shelter. 

The state’s Emergency Assistance family shelter system serves homeless families with children or pregnant women. Less than half of families in EA are new arrivals to Massachusetts, officials said. 

Last fall, the administration announced that the system could no longer safely or responsibly expand and set up a waiting list. Families who qualify for emergency shelter and are on the waiting list are eligible to stay at the state’s overflow or safety-net sites, currently providing shelter for about 200 families. 

The administration also announced Monday that it will be opening a new overflow shelter site next month in Chelsea at the former Chelsea Soldiers’ Home. The site is vacant and is eventually slated to be demolished. 

At full capacity, the Chelsea site will be able to accommodate approximately 100 families. 

The announcement comes after the Massachusetts Senate last week approved limits on how long homeless families can stay in emergency state shelters as part of an $850 million plan to fund the system at the center of the migrant crisis. 

Under the bill approved late Thursday by a vote of 32-8, the state would limit maximum stays to nine months with the possibility of 90 more days for veterans, pregnant women and people who are employed or enrolled in a job training program. 

Currently, there are no limits on the time a family can spend in emergency housing. 

A bill already passed by the House would provide funding covering the rest of the 2024 fiscal year that ends June 30 and part of 2025. The two bills are expected to go to a conference committee to hammer out a single compromise bill before it’s shipped to Democratic Governor Maura Healey’s desk for her signature.
…

your ad here

US and UK Announce Sanctions Over China-Linked Hacks on Election Watchdog and Lawmakers

Posted on by SeeEA

london — The U.S. and British governments on Monday announced sanctions against a company and two people linked to the Chinese government over a string of malicious cyberactivity targeting the U.K.’s election watchdog and lawmakers in both countries.

Officials said those sanctioned are responsible for a hack that may have gained access to information on tens of millions of U.K. voters held by the Electoral Commission, as well as for cyberespionage targeting lawmakers who have been outspoken about threats from China.

The Foreign Office said the hack of the election registers “has not had an impact on electoral processes, has not affected the rights or access to the democratic process of any individual, nor has it affected electoral registration.”

The Electoral Commission said in August that it identified a breach of its system in October 2022, though it added that “hostile actors” had first been able to access its servers in 2021.

At the time, the watchdog said the data included the names and addresses of registered voters. But it said that much of the information was already in the public domain.

In Washington, the Treasury Department said it sanctioned Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company Ltd., which it calls a Chinese Ministry of State Security front company that has “served as cover for multiple malicious cyberoperations.”

It named two Chinese nationals, Zhao Guangzong and Ni Gaobin, affiliated with the Wuhan company, for cyberoperations that targeted U.S. critical infrastructure sectors including defense, aerospace and energy.

The U.S. Justice Department charged Zhao, Ni, and five other hackers with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and wire fraud. It said they were part of a 14-year long cyber operation “targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses and political officials.”

“Today’s announcements underscore the need to remain vigilant to cybersecurity threats and the potential for cyber-enabled foreign malign influence efforts, especially as we approach the 2024 election cycle,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said.

British authorities did not name the company or the two individuals. But they said the two sanctioned individuals were involved in the operations of the Chinese cyber group APT31 — an abbreviation for “advanced persistent threat.” The group is also known as Zirconium or Hurricane Panda.

APT31 has previously been accused of targeting U.S. presidential campaigns and the information systems of Finland’s parliament, among others.

British cybersecurity officials said that Chinese government-affiliated hackers “conducted reconnaissance activity” against British parliamentarians who were critical of Beijing in 2021. They said no parliamentary accounts were successfully compromised.

Three lawmakers, including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, told reporters Monday they have been “subjected to harassment, impersonation and attempted hacking from China for some time.” Duncan Smith said in one example, hackers impersonating him used fake email addresses to write to his contacts.

The politicians are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international pressure group focused on countering Beijing’s growing influence and calling out alleged rights abuses by the Chinese government.

Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said his government will summon China’s ambassador to account for its actions.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said ahead of the announcement that countries should base their claims on evidence rather than “smear” others without factual basis.

“Cybersecurity issues should not be politicized,” ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said. “We hope all parties will stop spreading false information, take a responsible attitude and work together to maintain peace and security in cyberspace.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reiterated that China is “behaving in an increasingly assertive way abroad” and is “the greatest state-based threat to our economic security.”

“It’s right that we take measures to protect ourselves, which is what we are doing,” he said, without providing details.

China critics including Duncan Smith have long called for Sunak to take a tougher stance on China and label the country a threat — rather than a “challenge” — to the U.K., but the government has refrained from using such critical language.
…

your ad here

Pro-Kremlin Media Downplay Islamist Extremists’ Involvement in Moscow Attack

Posted on by SeeAF

Russian pro-government media are ignoring the Islamic State group’s claim of responsibility for the deadly attack last Friday at a Moscow concert hall, instead focusing on unsubstantiated allegations that the mass killing was linked to Ukraine. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report from the VOA Moscow bureau.
…

your ad here