Month: April 2024

US anti-Muslim incidents hit record high in 2023 due to Israel-Gaza war, advocacy group says

Posted on by SeeUS

Washington — Reported discrimination and attacks against Muslims and Palestinians reached a record high in the U.S. in 2023, driven by rising Islamophobia and bias as the Israel-Gaza war raged late in the year, data from an advocacy group showed on Tuesday.

Complaints totaled 8,061 in 2023, a 56% rise from the year before and the highest since the Council on American-Islamic Relations began records nearly 30 years ago. About 3,600 of those incidents occurred from October to December, CAIR said.

Human rights advocates have similarly reported a global rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism since the latest eruption of conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. incidents have included the fatal October stabbing of 6-year-old Palestinian American Wadea Al-Fayoume in Illinois, the November shooting of three students of Palestinian descent in Vermont and the February stabbing of a Palestinian man in Texas.

CAIR’s report said 2023 saw a “resurgence of anti-Muslim hate” after the first ever recorded annual drop in complaints in 2022. In the first nine months of 2023, such incidents averaged around 500 a month before jumping to nearly 1,200 a month in the last quarter.

“The primary force behind this wave of heightened Islamophobia was the escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine in October 2023,” the report said.

The most numerous complaints in 2023 were in the categories of immigration and asylum, employment discrimination, hate crimes and education discrimination, CAIR said.

Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent military assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has killed over 32,000 people, according to the local health ministry, displaced nearly all its 2.3 million population, put Gaza on the brink of starvation and led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.

CAIR said it compiled the numbers by reviewing public statements and videos as well as reports from public calls, emails and an online complaint system. It contacted people whose incidents were reported in the media.
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Blinken urges swift, impartial investigation into Israeli strike that killed aid workers in Gaza

Posted on by SeeEU

State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the United States has urged Israel to promptly investigate an Israeli airstrike in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of seven humanitarian workers. Blinken reiterated the call for Israel to prioritize the protection of civilian lives. 

“We’ve spoken directly to the Israeli government about this particular incident. We’ve urged a swift, a thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened,” Blinken said Tuesday during a press conference in Paris. 

Humanitarian workers “have to be protected,” Blinken added. “We shouldn’t have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at grave risk.” 

Hours before Blinken’s meeting with French Foreign Minister Stephane Séjourné, the charity organization World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, said that seven of its personnel were killed in the Israeli airstrike in Gaza. The organization declared an immediate halt to its operations in the region.

Séjourné expressed strong condemnation of the airstrike during the joint press conference, saying the situation in Gaza “is disastrous and is worsening day after day. Nothing justifies such a tragedy.” 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his government will establish a joint situation room with international groups to facilitate the coordination of aid distribution in Gaza alongside Israeli military operations. 

On Monday, France introduced a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council aimed at exploring options for U.N. oversight of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and suggesting ways to help the Palestinian Authority in taking on responsibilities. 

Last month, the United States abstained from a vote that permitted the council’s 15 members to demand an immediate cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends next week. 

Ukraine 

Blinken also renewed calls for the U.S. Congress to release military aid for Ukraine. 

“We are at a critical moment where it is absolutely essential to get Ukrainians what they continue to need to defend themselves, particularly when it comes to munitions and air defenses,” Blinken said during a visit to a defense facility in Paris with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu. 

Congress is yet to approve the Biden administration’s supplementary budget request that would provide aid to resupply Ukraine’s armed forces and help the country fend off Russian offensives.   

Biden has called on the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives to approve the military and financial aid package. House Republicans have delayed action on it for months, prioritizing domestic issues. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Ukrainian forces will have to retreat “step by step, in small steps,” if Kyiv doesn’t receive the U.S. military aid. 

French Foreign Minister Séjourné was in Beijing earlier this week. He said after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that France expects China to convey “clear messages” to its close partner Russia regarding Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. 

France and China have sought to strengthen ties in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning a visit to France in May. 

During meetings in Paris in February, Wang told French President Emmanuel Macron that Beijing appreciated his country’s “independent” stance. But Paris has also sought to press Beijing on its close ties with Moscow, which have only grown closer since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

U.S. and French officials said they are working closely to effectively prevent the transfer of weapons and materials to Russia from North Korea and China, which could fuel Moscow’s defense industrial base. 

The top U.S. diplomat is also set to express U.S. support for the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as he holds talks with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.   

The United States and France have been among Ukraine’s top supporters in the two years since Russia launched the invasion of its neighbor.   

The State Department said efforts to bring stability to Haiti would be another topic on the agenda for the meeting of U.S. and French officials.   

Blinken will travel from Paris to Brussels for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers as the alliance celebrates its 75th anniversary.   

While in Brussels, Blinken is also scheduled to meet with Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.   

A three-way meeting of the United States, European Union and Armenia is set for Friday, with the State Department saying the session will focus on “U.S. and EU support for Armenia’s economic resilience as it works to diversify its trade partnerships and address humanitarian needs.”   

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will lead their respective delegations.   

Separate U.S.-EU trade and technology talks will close Blinken’s stop in Belgium.
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Biden tells China’s Xi to stay out of US elections

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Washington — President Joe Biden again warned Chinese President Xi Jinping against meddling in the November U.S. presidential election during the two leaders’ phone call Tuesday. The call is part of U.S. efforts to maintain “open lines of communication to responsibly manage competition and prevent unintended conflict,” the White House said.

In various engagements, the U.S. has raised its “continual reinforcement of concern” against Chinese election interference, a senior administration official told reporters in a Monday briefing previewing the call. 

Biden last raised the issue in his meeting with Xi in Woodside, California, last November. Beijing has repeatedly said it has no interest in meddling in U.S. internal affairs.

“I don’t think we ever really take the Chinese at their word when they say they will or will not do something,” the senior administration official said. “It is about verifying.”

A declassified U.S. intelligence threat assessment released in February warned of Beijing’s “higher degree of sophistication in its influence activity,” including by using generative AI. The report warned of “growing efforts to actively exploit perceived U.S. societal divisions” online. 

“Spamouflage, a persistent China-linked influence operation, has weaponized U.S. political, economic, and cultural wedge issues in its campaigns,” said Max Lesser, a senior analyst of Emerging Threats at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Spamouflage leverages specific issues to target Biden, Lesser told VOA. For example, a post sharing an article from Fox news covering a Pro-Palestinian protest was shared by a Spamouflage account with the added commentary “Biden’s defeat is a foregone conclusion.”

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement sent to VOA that China is “committed to the principle of non-interference” and that claims about Beijing influencing U.S. presidential elections are “completely fabricated.”

The leaders also reviewed progress on key issues discussed at the Woodside Summit, including counter-narcotics cooperation to curb fentanyl trafficking and the recently re-established military-to-military communication, addressing AI-related risks, and efforts on climate change and people-to-people exchanges, the White House said in its readout of the call.

US-Japan-Philippines trilateral summit

The Biden-Xi call came as the White House prepares for a trilateral summit where Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. next week.

The first-ever “minilateral” gathering is set to unveil a series of initiatives including increasing maritime cooperation to counter China’s aggressive behavior in the South China Sea. Beijing claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, overlapping claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.  

Washington is concerned over the latest flare-up with China stepping up its use of water cannons against Philippine vessels to block a resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal. Since 1999, Philippine soldiers have guarded a wrecked ship left on the shoal to maintain the country’s sovereignty claims over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.  

The goal is to make clear to Xi that the U.S. “will not stand idly by if this gray zone coercion continues to escalate and potentially leads to the loss of lives of Filipino sailors,” Gregory Polling told VOA during a Center for Strategic and International Studies briefing Tuesday. Polling directs CSIS’ Southeast Asia Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

Grey zone tactics refer to activities and actions between peace and war that fall below the threshold of armed conflict. China’s firing of water cannons is an example of a grey zone action as it falls short of triggering the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

As Taiwan prepares to inaugurate its new president next month, Biden “emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” said the White House. Beijing considers the self-governed island its wayward province, and cross-strait issues have been one of the sharpest sources of tension in U.S.-China rivalry.

Chinese malicious cyber activity is another key concern. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned China-linked hackers for targeting U.S. critical infrastructure. Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, Limited or Wuhan XRZ is a front company for China’s Ministry of State Security that has “served as cover for multiple malicious cyber operations,” the administration said.

The official highlighted continued diplomatic engagement including a visit to China by U.S. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen in the coming days and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming weeks. The U.S. and China are also set to hold a dialogue on AI risk management in coming weeks.

The leaders also discussed other regional and global issues, with Biden raising concerns over Bejing’s “support for Russia’s defense industrial base and its impact on European and transatlantic security,” the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and human rights protection in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

Paris Huang contributed to this report.
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Ukrainian woman forges new path as blacksmith in husband’s absence

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Maria Kobets used to work in a museum in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region. But when her husband, Andriy, joined the armed forces, she took over his job as a blacksmith. Lesia Bakalets has more. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets.
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UN accuses Russia of human rights violations against Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

GENEVA — The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights accuses Russia of serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws in its war against Ukraine.

A new report by the OHCHR warns Russia’s armed attack and occupation of Ukrainian territory will have long-lasting consequences for Ukraine and its population at a time when global attention on the critical situation appears to be waning.

“Despite harrowing stories of human suffering unfolding every day in Ukraine, I fear that the world has grown numb to this crisis,” Volker Türk, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Tuesday.

In a bleak assessment of the situation, Türk told the U.N. Human Rights Council, “It is now over two years since the Russian Federation launched its full-scale armed attack on the country. Two years of immense suffering, bloodshed, loss and grief. Countless families have been separated.”

He noted more than 10,500 civilians have been reported killed and more than 20,000 injured.

“The actual figures are likely significantly higher,” he said.

The report, which covers the period from December 1, 2023, to February 29, says the war continues to cause devastating civilian harm in large-scale attacks through “missiles and loitering munitions launched by Russian armed forces across Ukraine.”

It says this is causing a spike in civilian casualties, “reversing the otherwise general downward trend in civilian casualties throughout 2023.”

This year marks 10 years since Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula, a period during which people in Crimea have been “charged and convicted … for acts that are not crimes under Ukrainian law,” according to the report.

“Russian Federation citizenship has been broadly imposed,” Türk said. “Russian authorities have conscripted male residents of Crimea into the Russian armed forces, eventually forcing them to fight against their own country.”

He said Ukrainian children have been deprived of an education in their own language and people have been denied the right to freely express their opinion.

“The violations we documented in occupied Crimea foreshadowed what we now see evolving in Ukrainian territory occupied by the Russian Federation following its full-scale armed attack,” said the human rights commissioner.

“In the last two years, Russian armed forces have committed widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention,” he said, adding that these violations have occurred with impunity.

“There has been nowhere to seek justice, nowhere to turn for an effective remedy,” he said. “The cumulative effect of these actions has been to create a pervasive climate of fear, which has allowed the Russian Federation to solidify its control.”

In the reporting period, OHCHR officials interviewed 60 Ukrainian prisoners of war who recently had been released from Russian captivity during a POW exchange. They said the POWs provided credible, detailed accounts of having been tortured, subjected to beatings, electric shocks, threats of execution, sexual violence and other harsh treatment.

The OHCHR recorded 12 cases of executions of at least 32 captured Ukrainian POWs. It has verified three of these incidents in which Russian service members executed seven Ukrainian service members.

“In this same period, my office interviewed 44 Russian POWs in Ukrainian captivity,” said Türk. “While they did not complain about the treatment and conditions in established places of detention, several of them described instances of torture and ill-treatment in transit places after they were evacuated from the battlefield.”

The high commissioner said the tragedy in Ukraine has gone on for too long and called on the Russian Federation to cease its armed attacks.

“The violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by the Russian armed forces and administrative officials in occupied territory must stop at once,” he said.

Russia boycotted the meeting and informed the council president that it “did not wish to take the floor as a concerned country.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva had no such misgivings. Filipenko Yevheniia sharply criticized Russia and its “systematic deprivation of fundamental rights and freedoms in Crimea and occupied parts of Donbas and other Ukrainian territories.”

“By inflicting significant demographic changes through forced displacement and deliberate replacement of the population, Russia is purposely altering the fabric of the society to cement its occupation in gross violation of international humanitarian law,” she said.

“By torturing, arbitrarily detaining civilians, by abducting and indoctrinating Ukrainian children, Russia openly and shamefully commits war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The Ukrainian ambassador called on U.N. member states “to condemn Russian terrorist attacks” and to send a clear message to the Kremlin “that the international community is not turning a blind eye to the invasion of a sovereign state, the killing of civilians and the destruction of critical infrastructure.”
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As Senegal’s Faye takes office, France watches closely 

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Paris — He ran as the candidate with a platform of “rupture,” championing greater sovereignty for his homeland — including by leaving the CFA West African Franc currency union, created by France nearly a century ago.

The shock victory of new Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has been closely followed in Paris, as questions mount on what the results mean for France’s relations with its former West African colony.

Will a Faye presidency stoke simmering anti-French sentiment, or the rising influence of other foreign powers? Will it further shrink France’s ebbing economic and military presence in West Africa — a region where Paris has already pulled its troops from coup-hit countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger?

Or — as critics suggest — does it underscore, yet again, that France’s ties with its former colonies must be rethought and reset — a process, some add, which is already well under way?

The election of anti-establishment Faye “has been a wake-up call to Western countries like France, which are now in competition with many other powers,” wrote France’s influential Le Monde newspaper. Today, Paris and others, “must learn from the consequences of the current African context, which has increasingly come to resemble a new phase in the long history of decolonization.”

More win-win

In both Paris and Dakar, the first official reactions were positive. President Emmanuel Macron’s office said the French leader called Faye and “warmly” congratulated him after his election, saying France wants to “continue and intensify” bilateral ties.

Faye maintains Senegal will remain a “certain and trustworthy ally,” calling Dakar’s partnership with Paris “correct,” but something “which must be revisited.”

“We need to win more from it,” Faye told France-Info radio in a recent interview, adding, “We’ve already said this for years, but we were unfortunately not listened to.”

The relationship between France and its former colony — once its oldest in sub-Saharan Africa — has historically been close, despite the occasional bumpy ride.

The country’s first president, writer and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor, studied in France. His second wife, Collette, was from Normandy. After leaving office, Senghor became the first Black member of the Academie Française — France’s celebrated literary body.

Until recently, too, France was Senegal’s leading economic partner, and Macron forged a good relationship with Faye’s predecessor, Macky Sall.

But like elsewhere in Francophone Africa, anti-French sentiment is rising, especially among the young. “France degage,” or “French out,” is a common slogan at demonstrations. On X, some rejoiced after reading fake news that Faye had asked France to leave the country. “Long live Senegal, free from France,” wrote one commentator.

Faye’s influential opposition ally, Ousmane Sonko, counts among the critics of France’s allegedly outsized influence in Senegal. While Sonko has softened his rhetoric in recent months, both men call for greater national sovereignty over resources like oil and fisheries.

Not everyone is bashing France, however. In Paris, Senegalese trader Mamadou, who sells berets and Eiffel Tower keychains to tourists, is happy with the status quo. “We have a stable relationship,” said Mamadou of the two countries. “Our ties go back a long way.”

Diminished presence

While France is still a key investor in Senegal — with French bakeries like Paul and supermarket chain Auchan dotting the capital Dakar — its footprint has shrunk sharply in the decades following Senegal’s 1960 independence. Other countries have moved in.

Beijing is now Dakar’s top trading partner. A Saudi firm built the capital’s new airport — which a largely Turkish-controlled company now manages. US, British and Australian companies are involved in Senegal’s oil and gas extraction. European, Turkish and Chinese industrial vessels have sucked up the fish off its shores, pummeling its artisanal fishing industry and deepening hunger and migration.

Meanwhile, non-francophone Nigeria, Angola and South Africa have become Paris’ leading trading partners in sub-Saharan Africa.

“It’s easy to have a speech about Senegal’s ‘sovereignty,’ but it is difficult to take measures against a French presence that isn’t what it was at independence,” Denis Castaing, former head of France’s development agency in Senegal, wrote in France’s Opinion.fr website.

Some commentators also doubt Faye will usher in major upheaval — at least not anytime soon.

A Faye presidency would not be “a revolution which breaks everything in its path but a much more moderate stance,” Burkina Faso’s L’Observateur Paalga newspaper wrote in an editorial.

Senegalese analyst Pape Ibrahim Kane similarly predicted it would take time for Faye, for example, to make good on promises to leave the CFA for a proposed West African currency called Eco.

“Perhaps in a year, a year and a half, we’ll have more clarity,” he told France’s RFI broadcaster.

But change could come more quickly on another front. Reports suggest Macron wants to further cut France’s already diminished military presence in West Africa, including in Senegal, where France has about 350 armed forces personnel. Calling on Paris to shutter its last two bases in Senegal might be an easy win for the new Faye government, Kane says.

“From a symbolic point of view, I think it would show how [Dakar] is reassuming Senegalese sovereignty without many consequences,” said Senegalese analyst Kane. “The French themselves are already rethinking their military presence on the continent — so it could happen very quickly.”
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First vessel uses alternate channel to bypass wreckage at Baltimore bridge collapse site

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Baltimore — A tugboat pushing a fuel barge was the first vessel to use an alternate channel to bypass the wreckage of Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which had blocked traffic along the vital port’s main shipping channel.

The barge supplying jet fuel to the Department of Defense left late Monday and was destined for Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base, though officials have said the temporary channel is open primarily to vessels that are helping with the cleanup effort. Some barges and tugs that have been stuck in the Port of Baltimore since the collapse are also scheduled to pass through the channel. 

Officials said they’re working on a second channel on the southwest side of the main channel that will allow for deeper draft vessels, but they didn’t say when that might open. 

Gov. Wes Moore is set Tuesday to visit one of two centers that the Small Business Administration opened in the area to help companies get loans to assist them with losses caused by the disruption of the bridge collapse. 

Crews are undertaking the complicated work of removing steel and concrete at the site of the bridge’s deadly collapse after a container ship lost power and crashed into a supporting column. On Sunday, dive teams surveyed parts of the bridge and checked the ship, and workers in lifts used torches to cut above-water parts of the twisted steel superstructure. 

Authorities believe six workers plunged to their deaths in the collapse, including two whose bodies were recovered last week. Two other workers survived. 

Moore, a Democrat, said at a Monday afternoon news conference that his top priority is recovering the four remaining bodies, followed by reopening shipping channels. He said that he understands the urgency but that the risks are significant. Crews have described the mangled steel girders of the fallen bridge as “chaotic wreckage,” he said. 

“What we’re finding is it is more complicated than we hoped for initially,” said U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Shannon Gilreath. 

Meanwhile, the ship remains stationary, and its 21 crew members remain on board for now, officials said. 

President Joe Biden is expected to visit the collapse site Friday to meet with state and local officials and get at federal response efforts. 

The bridge fell as the cargo ship Dali lost power March 26 shortly after leaving Baltimore on its way to Sri Lanka. The ship issued a mayday alert, which allowed just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save a roadwork crew filling potholes on the bridge. 

The Dali is managed by Synergy Marine Group and owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd., both of Singapore. Danish shipping giant Maersk chartered the Dali. 

Synergy and Grace Ocean filed a court petition Monday seeking to limit their legal liability, a routine but important procedure for cases litigated under U.S. maritime law. A federal court in Maryland will ultimately decide who is responsible and how much they owe. 

The filing seeks to cap the companies’ liability at roughly $43.6 million. It estimates that the vessel itself is valued at up to $90 million and was owed over $1.1 million in income from freight. The estimate also deducts two major expenses: at least $28 million in repair costs and at least $19.5 million in salvage costs. 

Officials are trying to determine how to rebuild the major bridge, which was completed in 1977. It carried Interstate 695 around southeast Baltimore and became a symbol of the city’s working-class roots and maritime culture. 

Congress is expected to consider aid packages to help people who lose jobs or businesses because of the prolonged closure of the Port of Baltimore. The port handles more cars and farm equipment than any other U.S. facility.
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This is America’s best-selling vehicle for 42 years running

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In Dearborn, Michigan, a new Ford F-150 rolls off the line every 53 seconds
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Villagers near proposed canal in Cambodia worry and wait

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Prek Takeo, Kandal Province, Cambodia — Sok Srey is prepared for the Mekong River to rise in June, when its water spills into the Takeo, a small river or prek in Khmer, abutting the land she’s occupied with her family for almost a quarter of a century.

She is not prepared for what might happen to her family if a proposed China-funded canal connecting the Gulf of Thailand with inland tributaries of the Mekong River like the Takeo.

“I don’t have any clear information yet. I just heard that they are going to build here,” Sok Srey, 60, told VOA Khmer in March during an interview at her house, around 35 kilometers from Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital.

She and her fisherfolk neighbors have yet to hear from Cambodian authorities about what will happen to families impacted by the project.

Cambodia’s government approved the 180-kilometer-long Funan Techo Canal in May. The $1.7 billion project, part of the Chinese government’s Belt and Road Initiative, would connect the coastal province of Kep with Kandal and Takeo provinces inland. The proposed design is 100 meters wide upstream and 80 meters wide downstream, with a consistent depth of 5.4 meters. It is the latest China-financed infrastructure project in Cambodia.

The proposed canal has alarmed neighboring Vietnam about how the project would affect its use of the flow of water downstream.

Brian Eyler, senior fellow and director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Stimson Center, said the costs and benefits of this project “are mostly unknown due to a lack of information.”

He added, “This project will likely have severe impacts on rice production in two of Vietnam’s top rice-producing provinces and thus, the Vietnamese are justly worried.”

In December, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet reassured Hanoi, saying the project “will not incur any negative impacts on the flow of the Mekong or other rivers while maintaining a stable environment, ecology and natural habitat for biodiversity.”

So far, there is no official reaction to the canal from the Vietnamese government, and the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh did not respond to VOA Khmer’s questions via email.

But such discord and diplomacy is far from Sok Srey’s workday life. In the months when she is not casting her nets in the Takeo, she picks chilies and clears grass, earning around $7.50 a day when she finds work. Her husband, Mov Sarin, 62, is a former soldier without a pension. Her daughter, Rin Sreyvy, is a 16-year-old ninth-grader.

Although Sok Srey is not the registered owner of the riverside land, she

feels that if the government wants the plot, it should compensate her and find her a place to live.

“I am worried, I couldn’t even sleep,” she said. “I don’t oppose the state, but if the state gives me a piece of land, I would appreciate that.”

Neighbors like Year Savun, a 58-year-old widow and mother of six who has lived on her mortgaged plot since 1984, and Tong Eng, 74, who owns a plot he has occupied since 1982, also don’t oppose the canal.

“The canal is good for the whole country, but where will people go to live?” asked Uot Kim Eng, 57, a roadside sugar cane and grocery seller who lives near Tong Eng.

Phan Rim, spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, told VOA Khmer on March 18 the project’s impact has been “primarily studied,” but “we’re still studying it more thoroughly.”

The Ministry of Economy and Finance, he added, will study the compensation issue to ensure the government follows proper procedures and the villagers will be consulted.

The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), one of China’s giant state-owned companies, is backing the project via a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract, according to Cambodia’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport. If completed, it would reduce the transit time between the ports in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh, according to the ministry.

Under the BOT, the Chinese company would build the canal, maintain and manage it and profit from charging for passage through the canal for some 50 years before it would revert to Cambodia.

On March 12, Hun Manet said the canal will create jobs for the 1.6 million people who live along the proposed route, and Cambodia’s government says construction will begin later this year.

Rim Sokvy, an independent researcher in Cambodia, wrote in an analysis published on ThinkChina, a Singapore-based website, that the canal “could steer Cambodia away from Vietnam and towards China.”

He said Cambodia now relies heavily on the Vietnamese waterways for importing raw materials from China and exporting finished products to the U.S. and Western countries.

“Vietnam will lose significant income … as Cambodia starts to depend on its own waterway transportation. The construction of the Funan Techo Canal is showing a decrease of Vietnam’s influence on Cambodia. This will be Hun Manet’s legacy,” Rim Sokvy said.

Phan Rim said the Mekong option will be unchanged.
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Person is diagnosed with bird flu after being in contact with cows in Texas

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ATLANTA — A person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu, an infection tied to the recent discovery of the virus in dairy cows, health officials said Monday.

The patient was being treated with an antiviral drug and their only reported symptom was eye redness, Texas health officials said. Health officials say the person had been in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and the risk to the public remains low. 

It marks the first known instance globally of a person catching this version of bird flu from a mammal, federal health officials said.

However, there’s no evidence of person-to-person spread or that anyone has become infected from milk or meat from livestock, said Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Genetic tests don’t suggest that the virus suddenly is spreading more easily or that it is causing more severe illness, Shah said. And current antiviral medications still seem to work, he added.

Last week, dairy cows in Texas and Kansas were reported to be infected with bird flu — and federal agriculture officials later confirmed infections in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from Texas. None of the hundreds of affected cows have died, Shah said.

Since 2020, a bird flu virus has been spreading among more animal species – including dogs, cats, skunks, bears and even seals and porpoises – in scores of countries. 

However, the detection in U.S. livestock is an “unexpected and problematic twist,” said Dr. Ali Khan, a former CDC outbreak investigator who is now dean of the University of Nebraska’s public health college.

This bird flu was first identified as a threat to people during a 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong. More than 460 people have died in the past two decades from bird flu infections, according to the World Health Organization. 

Most infected people got it directly from birds, but scientists have been on guard for any sign of spread among people. 

Texas officials didn’t identify the newly infected person, nor release any details about what brought them in contact with the cows.

The CDC does not recommend testing for people who have no symptoms. Roughly a dozen people in Texas who did have symptoms were tested in connection with the dairy cow infections, but only the one person came back positive, Shah said.

It’s only the second time a person in the United States has been diagnosed with what’s known as Type A H5N1 virus. In 2022, a prison inmate in a work program picked it up while killing infected birds at a poultry farm in Montrose County, Colorado. His only symptom was fatigue, and he recovered.
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Overwhelming Majority of Ukraine Supplemental Funding Spent Inside US

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The U.S. Congress left Washington for a break without deciding on a supplemental funding bill to arm Ukraine and other allies. Republicans who oppose the funding say Congress should spend its money on domestic concerns, but as VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports, the funding bill hits closer to home than many Americans may realize.
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US, Britain announce partnership on AI safety, testing

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WASHINGTON — The United States and Britain on Monday announced a new partnership on the science of artificial intelligence safety, amid growing concerns about upcoming next-generation versions.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and British Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington to jointly develop advanced AI model testing, following commitments announced at an AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park in November.

“We all know AI is the defining technology of our generation,” Raimondo said. “This partnership will accelerate both of our institutes work across the full spectrum to address the risks of our national security concerns and the concerns of our broader society.”

Britain and the United States are among countries establishing government-led AI safety institutes.

Britain said in October its institute would examine and test new types of AI, while the United States said in November it was launching its own safety institute to evaluate risks from so-called frontier AI models and is now working with 200 companies and entites.

Under the formal partnership, Britain and the United States plan to perform at least one joint testing exercise on a publicly accessible model and are considering exploring personnel exchanges between the institutes. Both are working to develop similar partnerships with other countries to promote AI safety.

“This is the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world,” Donelan said. “AI is already an extraordinary force for good in our society and has vast potential to tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges, but only if we are able to grip those risks.”

Generative AI, which can create text, photos and videos in response to open-ended prompts, has spurred excitement as well as fears it could make some jobs obsolete, upend elections and potentially overpower humans and catastrophic effects.

In a joint interview with Reuters Monday, Raimondo and Donelan urgent joint action was needed to address AI risks.

“Time is of the essence because the next set of models are about to be released, which will be much, much more capable,” Donelan said. “We have a focus one the areas that we are dividing and conquering and really specializing.”

Raimondo said she would raise AI issues at a meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council in Belgium Thursday.

The Biden administration plans to soon announce additions to its AI team, Raimondo said. “We are pulling in the full resources of the U.S. government.”

Both countries plan to share key information on capabilities and risks associated with AI models and systems and technical research on AI safety and security.

In October, Biden signed an executive order that aims to reduce the risks of AI. In January, the Commerce Department said it was proposing to require U.S. cloud companies to determine whether foreign entities are accessing U.S. data centers to train AI models.

Britain said in February it would spend more than 100 million pounds ($125.5 million) to launch nine new research hubs and AI train regulators about the technology.

Raimondo said she was especially concerned about the threat of AI applied to bioterrorism or a nuclear war simulation.

“Those are the things where the consequences could be catastrophic and so we really have to have zero tolerance for some of these models being used for that capability,” she said.
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North Korea fires ballistic missile says South Korean military

Posted on by SeeEA

seoul, south korea — North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, the South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday.

The launch comes less than two weeks after Pyongyang’s state media said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had overseen a successful test of a solid-fuel engine for a “new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile.”

Japan also said it “appeared” North Korea had fired the missile, Kyodo news agency reported, adding that the country’s coast guard believed the missile had fallen.

Tuesday’s launch is the third ballistic missile test so far this year, after the solid fuel one overseen by Kim in March, and another tipped with a maneuverable hypersonic warhead in January.

The North claimed last year it had successfully tested its first solid-fuel ICBM — the largest, longest-range category of ballistic missile — hailing it as a key breakthrough for the country’s nuclear counterattack capabilities.

Solid-fuel missiles do not need to be fueled before launch, making them harder to find and destroy, as well as quicker to use.

So far this year, the nuclear-armed North has declared South Korea its “principal enemy,” jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement.
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Last survivor of USS Arizona from Pearl Harbor attack, dies at 102

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honolulu — Lou Conter, the last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102.

Conter passed away Monday at his home in Grass Valley, California, following congestive heart failure, his daughter, Louann Daley said, adding she was beside him along with two of her brothers, James and Jeff.

The Arizona lost 1,177 sailors and Marines in the 1941 attack that launched the United States into World War II. The battleship’s dead account for nearly half of those killed in the attack.

Conter was a quartermaster, standing on the main deck of the Arizona as Japanese planes flew overhead at 7:55 a.m. on December 7 that year. Sailors were just beginning to hoist colors or raise the flag when the assault began.

Conter recalled how one bomb penetrated steel decks 13 minutes into the battle and set off more than 1 million pounds (450,000 kilograms) of gunpowder stored below. The explosion lifted the battleship 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 meters) out of the water, he said during a 2008 oral history interview stored at the Library of Congress. Everything was on fire from the mainmast forward, he said.

“Guys were running out of the fire and trying to jump over the sides,” Conter said. “Oil all over the sea was burning.”

His autobiography The Lou Conter Story recounts how he joined other survivors tending to the injured, many of them blinded and badly burned. The sailors only abandoned ship when their senior surviving officer was sure they had rescued all those still alive.

The rusting wreckage of the Arizona still lies where it sank. More than 900 sailors and Marines remain entombed inside. Only 335 Arizona crew members survived.

Conter went to flight school after Pearl Harbor, earning his wings to fly PBY patrol bombers, which the Navy used to look for submarines and bomb enemy targets. He flew 200 combat missions in the Pacific with a “Black Cats” squadron, which conducted dive bombing at night in planes painted black.

In 1943, he and his crew were shot down in waters near New Guinea and had to avoid sharks. A sailor expressed doubt they would survive, to which Conter replied, “baloney.”

“Don’t ever panic in any situation. Survive is the first thing you tell them. Don’t panic or you’re dead,” he said. They were quiet and treaded water until another plane came hours later and dropped a lifeboat on them.

In the late 1950s, he was made the Navy’s first SERE officer — an acronym for survival, evasion, resistance and escape. He spent the next decade training Navy pilots and crew on how to survive if they’re shot down in the jungle and captured as a prisoner of war. Some of his pupils used his lessons as POWs in Vietnam.

Conter retired in 1967 after 28 years in the Navy.

Conter was born in Ojibwa, Wisconsin, on Sept. 13, 1921. His family later moved to Colorado. He enlisted in the Navy after he turned 18, getting $17 a month and a hammock for his bunk at boot camp.

With Conter’s death, there are now 19 survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack still living, according to Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. About 87,000 military personnel were on Oahu on Dec. 7, according to a rough estimate compiled by military historian J. Michael Wenger.

In his later years, Conter became a fixture at annual remembrance ceremonies in Pearl Harbor that the Navy and the National Park Service jointly hosted on the anniversaries of the 1941 attack. When he lacked the strength to attend in person, he recorded video messages for those who gathered and watched remotely from his home in California.

In 2019, when he was 98, he said he liked going to such events, to remember those who lost their lives.

“It’s always good to come back and pay respect to them and give them the top honors that they deserve,” he said.
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Thailand’s same-sex marriage bill moves to Senate

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Bangkok, Thailand — The Thai Senate will debate a bill Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage, as the kingdom moves towards becoming the first Southeast Asian country to recognize marriage equality. 

Thailand has long enjoyed an international reputation for tolerance of the LGBTQ community, but activists have struggled for decades against conservative attitudes and values. 

The lower house easily approved the law last week and the legislation now moves to the country’s unelected Senate, which is stacked with conservative appointees named by the last junta. 

Senators will discuss the bill, which changes references to “men,” “women,” “husbands” and “wives” in the marriage law to gender-neutral terms and will hold a first vote before passing it to a committee for further consideration. 

The Senate cannot reject the legislation, but it can send it back to the House of Representatives for further debate for 180 days. 

It will come back for two more Senate votes, with the next probably no earlier than July. 

Paulie Nataya Paomephan, who won Miss Trans Thailand in 2023, said until recently she had never dreamed that transgender people would be able to legally marry in Thailand. 

“I think it is because politicians have to adapt themselves to the changing world,” she told AFP, adding that she and her boyfriend of three years planned to marry if the law passed.  

‘Proud of our pride’

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he was “proud of our pride” after the lower house voted to approve the bill in a 399-10 landslide. 

“The passing (of this law) in the parliament today is a proud moment for Thai society who will walk together towards social equality and respect differences,” he wrote on social media platform X. 

Across Asia, only Taiwan and Nepal recognize same-sex marriage. Last year, India’s highest court deferred the decision to parliament, and Hong Kong’s top court stopped just short of granting full marriage rights. 

LGBTQ activists celebrated last Wednesday’s vote as a significant milestone on the road to equality. 

Inside parliament, a small burst of cheers and clapping accompanied the final vote, with one representative waving a rainbow flag. 

The prime minister has been vocal in his support for the LGBTQ community, making the marriage equality policy a signature issue and telling reporters last year that the change would strengthen family structures. 

Opinion polls reported by local media show the law has overwhelming support among Thais. 

While Thailand has a reputation for tolerance, much of the Buddhist-majority country remains conservative, and LGBTQ people, while highly visible, still face barriers and discrimination. 

Activists have been pushing for same-sex marriage rights for more than a decade, but in a kingdom where politics is regularly upended by coups and mass street protests, the advocacy did not get far. 

Activist Ann Waaddao Chumaporn said she knew of dozens of LGBTQ couples ready to tie the knot once the law is passed, which she hoped would happen this year. 

“Once the law is enforced, yes of course, it will change Thai society,” she told AFP.  

“It will inspire other fights for other equalities.” 
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South Korea’s Yoon vows not to back down in face of doctors strike

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president vowed Monday not to back down in the face of vehement protests by doctors seeking to derail his plan to drastically increase medical school admissions, as he called their walkouts “an illegal collective action” that poses “a grave threat to our society.” 

About 12,000 medical interns and residents in South Korea have been on strike for six weeks, causing hundreds of canceled surgeries and other treatments at university hospitals. In support of their action, many senior doctors at their teaching schools have also submitted resignations, though they haven’t stopped treating patients. 

Officials say they want to raise the yearly medical school cap by 2,000 from the current 3,058 to create more doctors to deal with the country’s rapidly aging population. Doctors counter that schools can’t handle such an abrupt increase in students and that it would eventually hurt the country’s medical services. But critics say doctors, whose profession is one of the best paid in South Korea, are simply worried that the supply of more doctors would result in lower future incomes. 

Public surveys show that a majority of ordinary South Koreans support the government plan. But observers say many people are increasingly fed up with the protracted confrontation between the government and doctors, which threatens to deal a blow to governing party candidates ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections. 

In a nationally televised address, President Yoon Suk Yeol said an additional 2,000 medical students would be the minimum increase needed to address a shortage of physicians in rural areas, the military and essential but low-paying professions like pediatrics and emergency departments. Yoon said South Korea’s doctor-to-patient ratio — 2.1 physicians per 1,000 people — is far below the average of 3.7 in the developed world. 

“Increasing the number of doctors is a state project that we can’t further delay,” he said. 

Yoon urged the striking doctors to return to work, saying they have a responsibility to protect people’s lives in line with the local medical law. He also said the government remains open to talks if doctors come up with a unified proposal that adequately explains their calls for a much smaller increase in the medical school enrollment quota. 

“I can’t tolerate an attempt to carry through their thoughts by force without due logic and grounds,” Yoon said. “The illegal collective action by some doctors has become a grave threat to our society.” 

Yoon said the recruitment plan wouldn’t lead to lower earnings for doctors, citing what he called expected increases in national income and demand for medical services in the fast-aging society. He said the average income of South Korean doctors was the highest in the developed world. 

Later Monday, the Korean Medical Association, or KMA, which represents doctors in South Korea, criticized Yoon for repeating what his government has already argued to support the recruitment plan. 

“It was an address that brought us greater disappointment, because we had high hopes” for some changes in the government’s position, Kim Sung-geun, a spokesperson for KMA’s emergency committee, told reporters. 

Yoon said the government was taking final administrative steps to suspend the licenses of the strikers but added that he didn’t want to punish the young doctors. This implied that his government would be willing to soften punitive measures on the strikers if they returned to work soon. 

Yoon recently ordered officials to pursue “a flexible measure” to resolve the dispute and seek constructive consultations with doctors at the request of ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon. 

It’s unclear if the government and doctors can find a breakthrough to settle their standoff anytime soon. Last week, KMA elected Lim Hyun-taek, a hardliner who has called for a decrease in the medical school admission cap, as its new chief. 

After his election Tuesday, Lim said doctors could sit down for talks with the government if Yoon apologized and dismissed top health officials involved in the recruitment plan. Lim also threatened to launch an all-out fight if any doctors received punitive steps for their recent protests. 

The striking junior doctors represent a small fraction of the total doctors in South Korea — estimated at 115,000 by Yoon and 140,000 by a doctors association. But in some major hospitals, they account for about 30% to 40% of doctors, assisting qualified doctors and department chiefs during surgeries and other treatments while training. 

Doctors say the government enrollment plan lacks measures to resolve key medical issues such as how to increase the number of physicians in some key but unpopular professions. They say newly recruited students would also try to work in the capital region and in high-paying fields like plastic surgery and dermatology. They say the government plan would also likely result in doctors performing unnecessary treatments because of increased competition.
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France presses China on trade, Ukraine ahead of Xi Jinping visit

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beijing — The French foreign minister pressed China on trade issues and the war in Ukraine on Monday ahead of a planned visit to France by Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this spring.

Stéphane Séjourné, in talks with his counterpart Wang Yi in the Chinese capital, largely echoed positions that have been laid out by European leaders, including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on a visit to Beijing last week.

“The rebalancing of our economic partnership is a priority, as it is for our European partners,” Séjourné said at a joint news conference with Wang. “The European Union is a very open market, the most open in the world. But the current deficits with a certain number of countries, including China, are not sustainable for us.”

European officials have expressed concern that a flood of low-priced Chinese-made electric vehicles could disrupt production and displace jobs in Europe. The EU is investigating whether Chinese government subsidies for EVs give an unfair advantage to Chinese auto exporters. European companies operating in China are complaining that recent changes to national security laws have made it riskier to invest and do business in the country.

On the Chinese side, officials have raised concern about a “de-risking” strategy being pursued by the EU to ensure that it is not overly dependent on any one country for vital supplies and minerals. Wang expressed understanding for the European position but said he hopes it doesn’t negatively affect business sentiment.

“I believe the facts have proved and will continue to prove that China constitutes opportunities to Europe, rather than risks,” he said. “The two sides are partners not opponents.”

He also said that China is willing to import more “high-quality French products and services” and is working to resolve the concerns raised by European companies, including restrictions on the transfer of data overseas.

Séjourné insisted that Europe is not becoming protectionist and remains open to investment, a possible reference to attempts to woo Chinese automakers and other companies to create jobs by building factories in Europe rather than exporting their products from China.

Neither foreign minister mentioned a Chinese anti-dumping investigation into imports of French brandy that, together with the EU electric vehicle probe, could be a precursor to a trade war.

On the Ukraine war, he said France expects China, as a major country, to pass on clear messages to Russia. China, though, has a different stance on the war than Europe or the United States, both of which back Ukraine. China may have Russia’s ear, but it’s unclear what message it is delivering.

Séjourné said France is determined to maintain a close dialogue with China to contribute toward finding a path to a lasting peace in Ukraine.
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Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh gets 40 years for financial crimes

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Washington — Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina lawyer convicted in a high-profile trial last year of murdering his wife and son, was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Monday for financial crimes. 

Murdaugh, 55, scion of an elite family of judges and attorneys, is already serving a life sentence for the June 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, 22, at the family hunting estate. 

Murdaugh pleaded guilty last year to state charges of stealing millions of dollars from clients of his prominent personal injury firm, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. 

He was back in court on Monday for sentencing on federal charges of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and money laundering. 

District Judge Richard Gergel sentenced Murdaugh to 40 years in prison, to be served concurrently with the 27 years he already received. 

Murdaugh pleaded guilty to the federal charges in September, at which time U.S. Attorney Adair Boroughs said the disbarred lawyer’s “financial crimes were extensive, brazen, and callous.” 

“He stole indiscriminately from his clients, from his law firm, and from others who trusted him,” Boroughs said. 

Murdaugh’s televised three-week murder trial last year captivated viewers nationwide and outside the country. 

Evidence from his son’s cellphone indicated Murdaugh was the only person with them at the estate’s dog kennels several minutes before Maggie was killed with an assault rifle and Paul with a shotgun. 

Murdaugh denied killing his wife and younger son, but admitted stealing millions of dollars from clients of his law firm to feed an opioid addiction. 

Even before the trial finished, Netflix and HBO rushed out docu-dramas on the case.
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Scotland’s contentious new hate crime law may impact free speech

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London — A new law against hate speech came into force in Scotland on Monday, praised by some but criticized by others who say its sweeping provisions could criminalize religious views or tasteless jokes.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act makes it an offense to stir up hatred with threatening or abusive behavior based on characteristics including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Racial hatred was already banned under a law dating from 1986.

The maximum sentence is seven years in prison.

The legislation does not specifically ban hatred against women. The Scottish government says that will be tackled by a separate forthcoming law against misogyny.

Scottish Minister for Victims and Community Safety Siobhian Brown said the new law would help build “safer communities that live free from hatred and prejudice.”

“We know that the impact on those on the receiving end of physical, verbal or online attacks can be traumatic and life-changing,” she said. “This legislation is an essential element of our wider approach to tackling that harm.”

Critics argue that the law will have a chilling effect on free speech, making people afraid to express their views. The legislation was passed by the Scottish Parliament almost three years ago but has been delayed by wrangling over its implementation.

Veteran human rights activist Peter Tatchell said the law was well-intended but vague, relying on “subjective interpretation” of what constitutes abuse and allowing people to report alleged offenses anonymously.

The Scottish National Party-led government in Edinburgh says the legislation includes free speech protections, including a specific guarantee that people can still “ridicule or insult” religion.

“The threshold of criminality in terms of the new offenses is very, very high indeed,” First Minister Humza Yousaf said. “Your behavior has to be threatening or abusive and intended to stir up hatred.”

“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who has called the law “ludicrous,” is among critics who say it could be used to silence what are known as “gender-critical” feminists, who argue that rights for trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female.

In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, Rowling referred to several prominent trans women as men. Misgendering could be an offense under the new law in some circumstances.

“I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment,” Rowling wrote.

Scottish National Party lawmaker Joanna Cherry, another critic of the law, said that “if you are a woman, you have every right to be concerned.”

“Biological sex is not included as a protected characteristic in the act, despite women being one of the most abused cohorts in our society,” she wrote in The National newspaper.

Meanwhile, police organizations are concerned the law will trigger a flood of reports over online abuse.

David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said the law could “cause havoc with trust in police.” And the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents wrote to lawmakers to express worry that the law could be “weaponized” by an “activist fringe.”

The law is the latest case of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government, which is led by the pro-independence SNP, diverging from the Conservative U.K. administration in London. In 2022, the Scottish Parliament passed a law allowing people to change their legally recognized gender through self-declaration, without the need for medical certification.

The gender-recognition legislation was vetoed by the British government, which said it conflicted with U.K.-wide equalities legislation that, among other things, guarantees women and girls access to single-sex spaces such as changing rooms and shelters. 
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