Month: July 2024

Trial begins for US citizen accused of acting as Chinese agent

Posted on by SeeUS

New York — A former university professor in China went on trial on Monday in Brooklyn on charges he acted as a Chinese agent by monitoring U.S.-based activists opposed to Beijing’s Communist government at the direction of intelligence officials in China.

Federal prosecutors said Shujun Wang, a naturalized U.S. citizen, exploited his leadership role in New York communities supporting democracy in China to collect information on dissidents, and shared it with four officials in China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), an intelligence service.

Wang, who emigrated to the United States in 1994, was arrested in March 2022. He pleaded not guilty to four counts including acting as a foreign agent without notifying the U.S. attorney general and lying to U.S. authorities. Prosecutors said Wang’s scheme ran from 2005 to 2022. 

The U.S. Department of Justice has in recent years cracked down on what it calls “transnational repression” by U.S. adversaries such as China and Iran.

The term refers to the surveillance, intimidation and, in some cases, attempted repatriation or murder of activists against those governments.

Last year, a former New York City police sergeant was convicted of acting as an illegal Chinese agent by intimidating a U.S.-based fugitive to return to his homeland to face charges.

Wang, in his mid-70s, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Jury selection began on Monday before U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin, who normally hears appeals, in Brooklyn federal court.

Prosecutors say MSS officials directed Wang to target Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, advocates for Taiwanese independence campaigners and Uyghur and Tibetan activists.

Defense lawyers said in a June 16 court filing that Wang communicated with Chinese officials to try to “infiltrate and subvert” China’s government by spreading Western political ideas.

“Unfortunately, FBI Agents misunderstood him and his role,” defense lawyer Kevin Tung wrote.

U.S. prosecutors also charged four Chinese intelligence officers who they say acted as Wang’s handlers. Those officers are at large and believed to be in China.
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Russia’s top spymaster falsely claims Kremlin does not interfere in other countries’ affairs

Posted on by SeeEU

To project influence, Moscow habitually goes beyond diplomacy, using malicious hybrid strategies and, in some instances, wars of aggression.
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Armenia steps up its push to pivot away from Moscow, look West

Posted on by SeeEU

Armenia’s military exercises with the United States in July and increased diplomatic contacts with Western Europe suggest Yerevan continues its efforts to pivot away from Moscow. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the success of those efforts depends largely on Armenia’s rival, Azerbaijan, and ongoing U.S.-backed peace efforts.
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South Africa’s African National Congress expels ex-president Zuma

Posted on by SeeAF

Johannesburg — Former South African president Jacob Zuma has been expelled from his longtime political home, the African National Congress, after throwing his support behind a rival political party and campaigning for it ahead of May’s game-changing elections.

Zuma was a member of the African National Congress, or ANC, for 65 years. 

The octogenarian politician joined the anti-apartheid movement as a young man in 1959. Like fellow ANC stalwart Nelson Mandela, he was jailed on Robben Island for his part in the fight against white minority rule. 

Also like Mandela, Zuma went on to serve as president after the advent of South Africa’s democracy. 

But his association with the storied movement saw an ignoble end on Monday. 

“Jacob Zuma has actively impugned the integrity of the ANC and campaigned to dislodge the ANC from power,” ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said, explaining the party’s decision to expel Zuma. 

Zuma, 82, was forced to resign in disgrace near the end of his second term as president in 2018 amid numerous corruption scandals. He is widely accused of enabling what is known in South Africa as “State Capture” — basically the handing over of state-owned enterprises and even some ministries to his businessmen friends. He denies wrongdoing. 

Bitter at the ANC, Zuma threw his weight behind the newly-formed uMkhonto weSizwe, or MK party, in December 2023. Despite his suspension from the party, he remained a member of the ANC while acting as the public face and leader of the populist MK party. 

While Zuma himself was barred from running for office due to a prior criminal conviction, he campaigned for MK using vicious rhetoric against his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

Despite the corruption allegations against him, Zuma has retained massive support in his home province of Kwa Zulu-Natal. MK did very well there in May 29 elections, which saw it become the third biggest party in South Africa with almost 15 percent of the vote. 

Despite MK’s success, Zuma rejected the results, falsely claiming voting irregularities without any evidence. Mbalula also referenced this when announcing the expulsion. 

“Furthermore, former president Zuma has been running on a dangerous platform that casts doubt on our entire constitutional edifice,” Mbalula said. “He has meted out a host of anti-revolutionary outbursts, including mischievously calling into question the credibility of our electoral processes without cause.” 

Official election results saw the ANC lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the start of democracy in 1994, forcing it to form a coalition in order to govern. MK is now the official opposition in parliament, led by a Zuma-aligned disgraced former judge. 

Professor David Everatt of Johannesburg’s Witwatersrand School of Governance said he was surprised it took the ANC so long to expel Zuma. 

“It shows very clearly that the balance of forces has swung very clearly against Jacob Zuma and he doesn’t have the support inside the ANC to try and defend himself,” Everatt said. 

But political analyst Sandile Swana noted that the ANC had protected Zuma for years. 

“All of them have supported Jacob Zuma in one form or another and tolerated the decay in the ANC, so Zuma is one of the stars of the decay and demise of the African National Congress, that is his legacy,” Swana said. 

Zuma is due in court next year to face corruption charges over a 1999 arms deal.
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Japan surges past China for Olympics men’s gymnastics team gold

Posted on by SeeEA

Paris — Japan surged past its longtime rival China to win gold in the Paris Olympics men’s gymnastics competition Monday, and the Americans earned bronze for their first medal since 2008.

It was Japan’s eighth team gold and first since Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The Japanese overtook their rivals on the final rotation, after China’s Su Weide fell twice off the horizontal bar. Japan won with a small margin of 0.532 points.

After qualifying in fifth place, the U.S. men ended a 16-year drought to the delight of the dozens of fans waving American flags who chanted “USA, USA” throughout the evening.

The Americans posted a total of 257.793 points to edge Britain for the bronze.

Russia, which won gold at the Tokyo Games, did not compete because of its role in the war against Ukraine.

The Chinese had dominated qualifying ahead of Japan, the reigning world champion.

They faced off in the same group, starting their competition on floor exercise. China looked set for its first gold medal in the competition since 2012 after taking the lead midway through the competition.

But Takaaki Sugino, Shinnosuke Oka and Tokyo Olympics all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto nailed Japan’s comeback with excellent displays on the horizontal bar while Sue faltered.
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Prosecution calls for 25 death sentences in DR Congo rebellion trial

Posted on by SeeAF

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo — A Congolese prosecutor Monday requested death sentences against 25 defendants accused of belonging to the M23 rebel group in a high-profile trial in Kinshasa. 

The prosecution called for a 20-year jail term against a 26th defendant. 

The Tutsi-led M23, backed by Rwanda, has seized huge swathes of territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since late 2021. 

Only five of the accused are present for the trial in a military court, with the rest being tried in absentia. They face charges of war crimes, participation in an insurrection and treason. 

The most prominent is Corneille Nangaa, a former president of the Congolese electoral commission. In December, he announced in Nairobi the creation of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), a political-military movement of rebel groups including the M23. 

Other major M23 figures are on trial including its President Bertrand Bisimwa, military chief Sultani Makenga, and spokespersons Willy Ngoma and Lawrence Kanyuka. 

Yet none of the five defendants in court are widely known. 

Two admitted being members of the AFC. One of them, Nkangya Nyamacho, alias Microbe, told the court he joined the AFC “because there is injustice and discrimination in this country.” 

The defendant against whom the prison sentence was requested maintained he was innocent, saying he was arbitrarily arrested due to his surname Nangaa. 

The trial opened last week with 25 defendants, of whom 20 were on the run, but a former M23 spokesperson has also been charged. 

The defense is expected to make their case on Tuesday. 

In March, the Congolese government defied criticism from human rights organizations and lifted a moratorium on the death penalty that had been in place since 2003, aiming to target military personnel accused of treason. 

Around 50 soldiers have been sentenced to death in the east of the country since the start of the month for “cowardice” and “fleeing the enemy.” 

M23 is one of dozens of rebel groups active in the DRC’s restive east, many are the legacy of the regional conflict that erupted from the 1990s onward after the fall of longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
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Biden pivoting to his legacy with speech at LBJ Presidential Library

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Washington — President Joe Biden, who belatedly opted against seeking reelection, will pay a visit on Monday to the library of the last president to make the same difficult choice, more than a half-century ago.

Biden’s speech Monday at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, is designed to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, enacted under President Lyndon Johnson. While there, he’ll call for changes to the Supreme Court that include term limits and an enforceable ethics code for justices, as well as a constitutional amendment that would limit presidential immunity.

But the visit has taken on very different symbolism in the two weeks it took to reschedule it after Biden had to cancel because he got COVID-19.

The speech, originally set for July 15, was once seen by the White House as an opportunity for Biden to try to make a case for salvaging his sinking presidential campaign — delivered in the home district of Representative Lloyd Doggett, the 15-term congressman who was the first Democratic lawmaker to publicly call for Biden to step aside.

Two weeks later, the political landscape has been reshaped. Biden is out of the race. Vice President Kamala Harris is the likely Democratic nominee. And the president is focused not on his next four years, but on the legacy of his single term and the future of democracy.

No American incumbent president has dropped out of the race as late in the process as did Biden. Johnson announced he would not seek reelection in March of 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War.

Biden has drawn a lot of comparisons to Johnson of late. Both men spoke to the nation from the Oval Office to lay out their decisions. Both faced pressure from within their own party to step aside, and both were ultimately praised for doing so.

But their reasons were very different. Johnson stepped away in the heat of the war and spoke at length about his need to focus on the conflict. Biden, 81, had every intention of running for reelection until his shaky June 27 debate performance ignited fears within his own party about his age and mental acuity, and whether he could beat Republican Donald Trump.

Biden has called Trump a serious threat to democracy, particularly after the ex-president’s efforts in 2020 to overturn the results of the election he lost and his continued lies about that loss. The president framed his decision to bow out of the race as motivated by the need to unite his party to protect democracy.

“I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation,” Biden said in his Oval Office address. “Nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. And that includes personal ambition.”

Biden decided to seek the presidency in 2020 after witnessing the violence at a 2017 “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where torch-wielding white supremacists marched to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, chanting “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”

Biden said he was horrified by Trump’s response, particularly when the Republican told reporters that “you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”

During his presidency, Biden has often put equity and civil rights at the forefront, including with his choice for vice president. Harris is the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to have the job. She could also become the first woman elected to the presidency.

Biden’s administration has worked to combat racial discrimination in the real estate market, he pardoned thousands of people convicted on federal marijuana charges that have disproportionately affected people of color and provided federal funding to reconnect city neighborhoods that were racially segregated or divided by road projects, and also invested billions in historically Black colleges and universities. 

His efforts, he has said, are meant to push the country forward — and to guard against efforts to undermine the landmark legislation signed by Johnson in 1964, one of the most significant civil rights achievements in U.S. history.

The law made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It was designed to end discrimination in school, work and public facilities, and barred unequal application of voter registration requirements.

Johnson signed the act five hours after Congress approved it, saying the nation was in a “time of testing” that “we must not fail.” He added: “Let us close the springs of racial poison. Let us pray for wise and understanding hearts. Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our nation whole.”

Eight years later, Johnson convened a civil rights symposium bringing together those who fought for civil rights to push for more progress. 

“The progress has been too small; we haven’t done nearly enough,” he said in 1972 during the symposium. “Until we overcome unequal history, we can’t overcome unequal opportunity … There is still work to be done, so let’s be on with it.”

Biden has said he is “determined to get as much done” as he can in his final six months in office, including signing major legislation expanding voting rights and a federal police bill named for George Floyd.

“I’ll keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose,” Biden said from the Oval Office. “I’ll keep calling out hate and extremism, make it clear there is no place, no place in America for political violence or any violence ever, period.”

Later Monday, Biden will also travel to Houston to pay his respects to the late Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, who died July 19 at age 74. 
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Harris was never ‘border czar,’ experts say, despite Republican claims

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washington — After President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee, Republicans quickly focused on Harris and her work on immigration issues, calling her a “border czar.”

Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, a Republican from Pennsylvania, said at a House Rules Committee hearing Tuesday that Biden appointed Harris as the border czar 64 days into his administration. The hearing focused on an emergency resolution addressing the “failures of the border czar position and its negative impact on our fellow citizens across the country.”

“With Harris at the helm, the Biden-Harris administration made good on their promise to systematically dismantle President [Donald] Trump’s secure border [policies],” Reschenthaler said.

But was Harris appointed as border czar?

Immigration experts say no.

Theresa Cardinal Brown, senior adviser on immigration and border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said that early in the Biden administration, Harris was assigned the task of reducing migration to the U.S. southern border and collaborating with Central American nations to address the root causes of migration through diplomacy, development and investment.

“She was never named a border czar. In fact, the border was not her priority issue at all. The border was the responsibility of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. She was never in charge of the border per se,” Brown said.

Brown said “czar” is not a recognized term under the U.S. legal system.

“But it has been adopted into American political discourse as, I’d say, a shorthand title for somebody who is given within a White House administration – within the executive branch – broad responsibility and authority to direct the administration across different Cabinet departments on a particular issue or policy,” Brown said.

Border politics

During the pandemic, the Trump administration virtually closed the border to migration, as officials implemented a health order that allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants, effectively turning away most migrants without giving them a chance to seek asylum.

When President Biden took office in January 2021, expulsions continued, except for unaccompanied minors. Both Biden and Harris openly urged migrants not to come, but they did, presenting a political crisis for Biden at the beginning of his administration.

Biden soon asked Harris to spearhead a “root causes” strategy, banking heavily on using American investments to improve living conditions and discourage migrants from leaving three Central American nations where a significant number of migrants come from: Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

The Biden administration also reunited families separated under the Trump administration and expanded legal immigration pathways, including increasing refugee admissions and creating a humanitarian program for migrants from Central America, Venezuela and Haiti.

Although it is not known what Harris’ immigration policy will look like, immigration attorney Hector Quiroga said he thinks Harris will continue Biden’s policies, but he noted that Harris’ immigration message has changed.

“Her record is rather interesting because in the beginning, she was very much in the diplomatic kind of way. … With experience [in the vice president office], she has said, ‘Please don’t come’ to migrants,” he said, referring to Harris’ evolution to a stricter tone and tougher message.

Quiroga is referring to Harris’ 2021 trip to Guatemala to meet with former Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and address the root causes of illegal migration. During her visit, she emphasized the Biden administration’s commitment to helping Guatemalans find “hope at home.”

And she issued a stern warning to potential migrants.

“I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border,” Harris said. “Do not come. Do not come.”

The Biden administration has been highlighting progress at the border, noting that arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico dropped by 29% in June, marking the lowest number during Joe Biden’s presidency.
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Missing Cambodian helicopter spotted crashed after 17 days, no survivors seen

Posted on by SeeEA

PHNOM PENH — The wreckage of a Cambodian military helicopter that went missing more than two weeks ago with two pilots aboard was spotted Monday on a mountaintop with no survivors immediately seen, the government and state news agency reports said. 

A Defense Ministry statement posted on its Facebook page said that a search flight spotted the wreckage of the Chinese-made Z-9 helicopter in the heavily forested Cardamom Mountains in the southwestern province of Pursat.

Military recovery personnel have been sent to the crash site, but it will be difficult to reach because it is densely forested and the weather is bad, the ministry said.

The ministry made no mention of bodies or survivors, but the state news agency AKP cited an unnamed senior defense official as saying the body of one of the pilots had been spotted and that the recovery team would search for the other.

The helicopter with two pilots had been on training flight, and was flying in bad weather when air force headquarters lost touch with it on July 12. An intensive search for the missing aircraft was launched a day after the incident happened.

A photo shared widely shared on social media Monday showed a helicopter broken into several pieces partially covered by foliage. The photo and its source could not immediately be verified.

In 2014, another Chinese-made Z-9 helicopter crashed in a pond south of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, killing two generals who headed the air force’s helicopter unit along with two pilots.
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North Korean officials seek medicines for Kim’s obesity-related health problems, Seoul says

Posted on by SeeEA

Seoul, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has regained weight and appears to have obesity-related health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and his officials are looking for new medicines abroad to treat them, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Monday.

The 40-year-old Kim, known for heavy drinking and smoking, comes from a family with a history of heart problems. Both his father and grandfather, who ruled North Korea before his 2011 inheritance of power, died of heart issues.

Some observers said Kim, who is about 170 centimeters (5 feet, 8 inches) tall and previously weighed 140 kilograms (308 pounds), appeared to have lost a large amount of weight in 2021, likely from changing his diet. But recent state media footage show he has regained the weight.

On Monday, the National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s main spy agency, told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing that Kim is estimated to weigh about 140 kilograms (308 pounds) again and belongs to a high-risk group for heart disease, according to Lee Seong Kweun, one of the lawmakers.

Lee said the NIS told lawmakers that Kim has shown symptoms of high blood pressure and diabetes since his early 30s. Another lawmaker, Park Sunwon, said the NIS believes Kim’s obesity is linked to his drinking, smoking and stress.

Lee and Park quoted the NIS as saying it obtained intelligence that North Korean officials have been trying to get new medicines abroad for Kim’s suspected high blood pressure and diabetes.

North Korea is one of the most secretive countries in the world, and there is virtually no way for outsiders to know Kim’s exact health conditions. The NIS also has a spotty record in confirming developments in North Korea.

Kim’s health is the focus of keen attention outside North Korea since he hasn’t formally anointed a successor who would take charge of the country’s advancing nuclear arsenal targeting the United States and its allies if he was incapacitated.

The NIS in its Monday briefing also maintained its assessment that Kim’s preteen daughter, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae, is likely bolstering her status as her father’s heir apparent. But the NIS said it cannot rule out the possibility that she could be replaced by one of her siblings because she hasn’t been officially designated as her father’s successor.

Speculation about Kim Ju Ae, who is about 10 years old, flared as she has accompanied her father on high-profile public events starting in late 2022. State media called her Kim Jong Un’s “most beloved” or “respected” child and churned out footage and photos proving her rising political standing and closeness with her father.

The NIS told lawmakers that at least 60% of Kim Ju Ae’s public activities have involved attending military events with her father. 
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UK police arrest man after 8 stabbed in ‘deeply shocking’ incident 

Posted on by SeeEU

London — British emergency services said a man had been arrested after at least eight people were stabbed in Southport, northwest England, on Monday, with a local children’s hospital declaring a major incident and the prime minister calling it “deeply shocking.” 

North West Ambulance Service said it had treated eight patients with stab injuries who had been taken to three different hospitals, including Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. 

Merseyside Police said armed police had arrested a man and seized a knife after being called to reports of a stabbing at around 11:50 a.m. (1050 GMT). There was no wider threat to the public, they added.  The police asked people to avoid the area. Photos showed several police cars, ambulances and a fire engine behind cordon tape on a street lined with houses. 

“Horrendous and deeply shocking news emerging from Southport. My thoughts are with all those affected,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on the social media network X, formerly Twitter. 

“I would like to thank the police and emergency services for their swift response. I am being kept updated as the situation develops.” 

British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper posted on X that she was “deeply concerned at the very serious incident.” 

Alder Hey Children’s Hospital said it had declared a major incident and its emergency department was extremely busy. It asked parents only to bring their children in if it was urgent. 
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Urgent action needed to stop spread of drug-resistant malaria, scientists warn

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Bangkok — Millions of lives could be put at risk unless urgent action is taken to curb the spread of drug-resistant malaria in Africa, according to a new paper published in the journal Science.

The paper says the parasite that causes malaria is showing signs of resistance to artemisinin, the main drug used to fight the disease, in several east African countries.

“Mutations indicating artemisinin-resistance have been found in more than 10% of malaria infected individuals in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania,” according to the report.

Artemisinin Combination Therapies, or ACTs, have been the cornerstone of malaria treatment in recent years — but there are worrying signs that they are becoming less effective, says report co-author Lorenz von Seidlein of the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Bangkok.

“We have increasing reports from eastern Africa saying that they have documented resistance against the first line treatments against malaria,” he says. “The first line treatments are artemisinin combination therapy – that has been used for the last 20 years and has worked excellently well. And it’s now not working quite as well as it used to do.”

It’s estimated that over one thousand children die every day from malaria in Africa. The World Health Organization estimates that the global death toll from malaria in 2022 — the most recent figures available — was 608,000.

Past lessons

Before artemisinin therapies were developed, chloroquine was the medicine most used to treat malaria. The report authors say that in the 1990s and early 2000s, signs that the malaria parasite was developing resistance to chloroquine were widely ignored.

“When chloroquine resistance slowly sneaked into Africa there was a whole wave of childhood mortality followed by it. So really, a large number of children — probably in the millions — died because chloroquine didn’t work as well as it used to do. And now we see these first signs that something similar is happening with the ACTs. And that is of course very worrying,” von Seidlein says.

Urgent action

The report authors urge policymakers and global funding bodies to act now to prevent artemisinin resistance taking hold.

Their recommendations include combining artemisinin drugs with other medicines.

“Combining an artemisinin derivative drug with two partner drugs in triple artemisinin combination therapies [TACTs] is the simplest, most affordable, readily implementable, and sustainable approach to counter artemisinin resistance,” the report says.

The authors also call for the rollout of new, more effective insecticides and mosquito nets; better training of community health workers; the rapid deployment of new malaria vaccines; and better monitoring of parasite mutations.

Southeast Asia

Many of these methods were used to halt the spread of artemisinin resistance in south-east Asia since 2014, notes von Seidlein.

“Ultimately, there was an understanding that this could be a major health emergency globally and so there were a lot of investments from funders for the from high-income countries towards these countries in the Greater Mekong sub-region to stop the spread of artemisinin resistant parasites,” he says.

The report says that sense of urgency must now be applied to tackling artemisinin resistance in Africa.

“We ask funders, specifically the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria [GFATM] and the U.S. Government’s President’s Malaria Initiative, to be visionary and to step up funding for malaria control and elimination programs to contain the spread of artemisinin resistance in Africa — as they have done effectively in Southeast Asia since 2014,” says report co-author Ntuli Kapologwe, the director of preventive services at Tanzania’s Ministry of Health.
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AI-backed autonomous robots monitor construction progress

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The construction industry is finding new uses for artificial intelligence. In a multi-story building project in the northwestern U.S. city of Seattle, autonomous robots are tasked with documenting progress and detecting potential hazards. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya has the story.
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Meeting in Beijing, China’s Xi and Italy’s Meloni discuss conflicts

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Beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni discussed the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East at a meeting in Beijing on Monday, Meloni’s office said.

Meloni, whose country currently holds the rotating G7 presidency, stressed the importance of China as a partner in dealing with growing global insecurity during their talks.

The two leaders addressed the “priority issues on the international agenda from the war in Ukraine to the risks of a further escalation of the situation in the Middle East. They also discussed the growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific,” the Italian leader’s office said in a statement.

Meloni is seeking to relaunch her country’s economic ties with Beijing after Italy exited Xi’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative last year and amid deteriorating trade ties between the West and the world’s second-largest economy.

“There is growing insecurity at the international level, and I think that China is inevitably a very important interlocutor to deal with all these dynamics,” Meloni said during the talks at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House.

EU trade policy has turned increasingly protective over concerns that China’s production-focused development model could see the bloc flooded with cheap goods as Chinese firms look to step up exports amid weak domestic demand.

The European Commission this month confirmed it would impose preliminary tariffs of up to 37.6% on imports of electric vehicles made in China, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing.

Chinese officials have warned of a possible trade war, should Brussels not back down.

“Rebound into a new era”

Italy is of strategic importance to China as it has struck out on its own with Beijing before, and could prove to be a moderating voice within the bloc.

In 2019, Italy became the only member of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies to join Xi’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, billed as recreating the ancient Silk Road trade route.

And while Italy eventually left the infrastructure investment scheme last year, under pressure from the U.S. over concerns about Beijing’s economic reach, Rome signaled it still desired to forge stronger trade ties with the Asian giant, signing a three-year action plan on Sunday.  

“Both sides face important opportunities for mutual development,” Xi told Meloni at the start of their meeting.

“China and Italy should uphold the spirit of the Silk Road … so that the bridge of communication between East and West through it can rebound into a new era.”
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China’s Xi calls for cooperation with Italy, evoking ancient ‘Silk Road’

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Beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping called for further cooperation with Italy on Monday at a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, saying the two countries were the ends of the historical Silk Road trade route.

Meloni pulled Italy out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative — whose name refers to the ancient overland trade route — in December, but signed an agreement Sunday that provides a new path for the two countries to cooperate on trade and other issues.

Meloni is on a five-day state visit, her first trip to China as prime minister.

The Belt and Road Initiative, one of Xi’s signature policies, aims to build power and transportation infrastructure around the world in order to stimulate global trade while also deepening China’s ties with other nations.

“China and Italy are located at opposite ends of the ancient Silk Road,” Xi told Meloni, “and the long-standing friendly exchanges between the two countries have made important contributions to the exchange and mutual learning of Eastern and Western civilizations, as well as human development and progress.”

“If countries are inter-connected, they will advance; if they are closed to each other, they will retreat,” said Xi.

Meloni said Italy could play an “important role” in China’s relationship with the European Union and creating balanced trade relationships. The EU imposed provisional tariffs of up to 37.6% on China-made electric vehicles in early July. China’s support for Russia after it invaded Ukraine has further strained relations with the EU.

She also noted China’s role as a diplomatic power on the global stage. “There is growing insecurity at the international level, and I think that China is inevitably a very important interlocutor to deal with all these dynamics,” said Meloni.
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Biden unveils plan for Supreme Court changes, says US stands at ‘breach’ as public confidence sinks 

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Washington — President Joe Biden is unveiling a long-awaited proposal for changes at the U.S. Supreme Court, calling on Congress to establish term limits and an ethics code for the court’s nine justices. He also is pressing lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment that would limit presidential immunity. 

The White House on Monday detailed the contours of Biden’s court proposal, one that appears to have little chance of being approved by a closely divided Congress with just 99 days to go before Election Day. 

Still, Democrats hope it will help to focus voters as they consider their choices in a tight election. The likely Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, has sought to frame her race against Republican former President Donald Trump as “a choice between freedom and chaos.” 

The White House is looking to tap into the growing outrage among Democrats about the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, issuing opinions that overturned landmark decisions on abortion rights and federal regulatory powers that stood for decades. 

Liberals also have expressed dismay over revelations about what they say are questionable relationships and decisions by some members of the conservative wing of the court that suggest their impartiality is compromised. 

“I have great respect for our institutions and separation of powers,” Biden argues in a Washington Post op-ed set to be published Monday. “What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach.” 

The president planned to speak about his proposal later Monday during an address at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. 

Biden is calling for doing away with lifetime appointments to the court. He says Congress should pass legislation to establish a system in which the sitting president would appoint a justice every two years to spend 18 years in service on the court. He argues term limits would help ensure that court membership changes with some regularity and adds a measure of predictability to the nomination process. 

He also wants Congress to pass legislation establishing a code of ethics for justices that would require justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. 

Biden also is calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment reversing the Supreme Court’s recent landmark immunity ruling that determined former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. 

The decision extended the delay in the Washington criminal case against Trump on charges he plotted to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss and all but ended prospects the former president could be tried before the November election. 

The last time Congress ratified an amendment to the Constitution was 32 years ago. The 27th Amendment, ratified in 1992, states that Congress can pass a bill changing the pay for members of the House and Senate, but such a change can’t take effect until after the next November elections are held for the House. 

Trump has decried court reform as a desperate attempt by Democrats to “Play the Ref.” 

“The Democrats are attempting to interfere in the Presidential Election, and destroy our Justice System, by attacking their Political Opponent, ME, and our Honorable Supreme Court. We have to fight for our Fair and Independent Courts, and protect our Country,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site earlier this month. 

There have been increasing questions surrounding the ethics of the court after revelations about some of the justices, including that Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips from a GOP megadonor. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was appointed during the Obama administration, has faced scrutiny after it surfaced that her staff often prodded public institutions that hosted her to buy copies of her memoir or children’s books. 

Justice Samuel Alito rejected calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving Trump and Jan. 6 defendants despite a flap over provocative flags displayed at his home that some believe suggested sympathy to people facing charges over storming the U.S. Capitol to keep Trump in power. Alito says the flags were displayed by his wife. 

Trump, at the time, congratulated Alito on his social media site for “showing the INTELLIGENCE, COURAGE, and ‘GUTS'” in refusing to step aside. “All U.S. Judges, Justices, and Leaders should have such GRIT.” 

Democrats say the Biden effort will help put a bright spotlight on recent high court decisions, including the 2022 ruling stripping away women’s constitutional protections for abortion, by the conservative-majority court that includes three justices appointed by Trump. 

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said in a Sunday interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” that Biden’s reform push is about reminding Americans that “when they vote in November, the Supreme Court is on the ballot.” 

She added: “That is a good reason to vote for Kamala Harris and to vote for Democrats in both the Senate and the House.” 

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina pushed back that Democrats didn’t complain when a more liberal-leaning court “was pumping out opinions they liked.” 

“Only when we brought constitutional balance back from having a conservative court was the court a threat to the country,” Graham said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “What’s been a threat to the country is an out-of-control liberal court issuing opinions that basically take over every phase of American life based on nine people’s judgment.” 

The announcement marks a remarkable evolution for Biden, who as a candidate had been wary of calls to reform the high court. But over the course of his presidency, he has become increasingly vocal about his belief that the court has abandoned mainstream constitutional interpretation. 

Last week, he announced during an Oval Office speech that he would pursue Supreme Court reform during his final months in office, calling it “critical to our democracy.” 

Harris, in her unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, had expressed being open to a conversation about expanding the nine-member court. The proposals unveiled on Monday do not include such an effort, which is something Biden as a candidate viewed skeptically. 

As a vice presidential candidate, Harris notably dodged questions about her earlier stance on the issue during her October 2020 debate with Vice President Mike Pence. 

The Harris campaign and aides to the vice president did not respond to queries about Harris’ involvement in shaping the Biden proposal and whether she would pursue any other court reform efforts should she be elected. 

The White House in a statement said, “Biden and Vice President Harris look forward to working with Congress and empowering the American people to prevent the abuse of Presidential power, restore faith in the Supreme Court, and strengthen the guardrails of democracy.” 
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Lawmakers from 6 countries say Beijing is pressuring them not to attend conference in Taiwan  

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BEIJING — Lawmakers from at least six countries said Chinese diplomats were pressuring them not to attend a China-focused conference in Taiwan, in what they described as efforts to isolate the self-governed island. 

Politicians in Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and one Asian country that declined to be named said they were getting texts, calls and urgent requests for meetings that would conflict with their plans to travel to Taipei. China vehemently defends its claim to Taiwan and views it as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary. 

The conference begins Tuesday and is being held by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, or IPAC, a group of hundreds of lawmakers from 35 countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing. IPAC has long faced pressure from the Chinese government: Some members have been sanctioned by Beijing, and in 2021 the group was targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, according to a U.S. indictment unsealed earlier this year. 

But Luke de Pulford, the alliance’s director, said the pressure from Chinese officials the past few days has been unprecedented. During past IPAC meetings in other locations, lawmakers were approached by Chinese diplomats only after they concluded. This year, the first in which IPAC’s annual meeting is taking place in Taiwan, there appeared to be a coordinated attempt to stop participants from attending. 

The Associated Press spoke to three lawmakers and reviewed texts and emails sent by Chinese diplomats asking whether they were planning to participate in the meeting. 

“I’m Wu, from Chinese Embassy,” read a message sent to Antonio Miloshoski, a member of parliament in North Macedonia. “We heard that you got an invitation from IPAC, will you attend the Conference which will be held next week in Taiwan?” 

In some cases, lawmakers described vague inquiries about their plans to travel to Taiwan. In other cases, the contact was more menacing: One lawmaker told AP that Chinese diplomats messaged the head of her party with a demand to stop her from going. 

“They contacted president of my political party, they ask him to stop me to travel to Taiwan,” said Sanela Klarić, a member of parliament in Bosnia. “They’re trying, in my country, to stop me from traveling … This is really not OK.” 

China routinely threatens retaliation against politicians and countries that show support for Taiwan, which has only informal relations with most countries due to Chinese diplomatic pressure. Klarić said the pressure was unpleasant but only steeled her determination to go on the trip. 

“I really am fighting against countries or societies where the tool to manipulate and control peoples is fear,” said Klarić, adding that it reminded her of threats and intimidation she faced while suffering through wars in Bosnia in the 1990s. “I really hate the feeling when somebody is frightening you.” 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. 

De Pulford called the pressure “gross foreign interference.” 

“How would PRC officials would feel if we tried to tell them about their travel plans, where they could and could not go?” de Pulford said, using the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China. “It’s absolutely outrageous that they think that they can interfere in the travel plans of foreign legislators.” 

Lawmakers from 25 countries were expected to attend this year’s meeting, including Japan, India and the U.K., and IPAC said in a statement that some would meet with high-level Taiwanese officials. The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Last week, Beijing criticized Taiwan for its annual Han Kuang military drills, saying that Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party was “carrying out provocations to seek independence.” 

“Any attempt to whip up tensions and use force to seek independence or reject reunification is doomed to failure,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters. 

China has been peeling off the island’s diplomatic allies, often with promises of development aid, in a long-running competition between the two that has swung in Beijing’s favor in recent years. The Pacific Island nation of Nauru switched recognition to Beijing earlier this year, a move that reduced Taiwan’s dwindling number of diplomatic allies to 12. 

But China’s at-times heavy-handed approach has also alienated other countries. 

In 2021, Beijing downgraded relations and blocked imports from Lithuania, a member of both the EU and NATO, after the Baltic nation broke with diplomatic custom by agreeing that a Taiwanese representative office in its capital of Vilnius would bear the name Taiwan instead of Chinese Taipei, which other countries use to avoid offending Beijing. The following year, the EU adopted a resolution criticizing Beijing’s behavior toward Taiwan and took action against China at the World Trade Organization over the import restrictions. 

The pressure over the IPAC meeting was also triggering backlash. 

Bolivian Senator Centa Rek said she submitted a letter of protest after a Chinese diplomat called her and told not to go to Taiwan, saying the island was run by an “imposter president” and that the meeting was hosted by an organization “not accepted within the terms of the policy of mainland China.” When Rek refused, the diplomat said he would report her decision to his embassy, which Rek interpreted as a “veiled threat.” 

“I told him that it was an unacceptable intrusion, that I would not accept an order or intrusion from any government,” Rek said. “These were personal decisions and that it seemed to me that he had gone beyond all international political norms.” 

Most of the lawmakers targeted appear to be from smaller countries, which de Pulford, the alliance’s director, said was likely because Beijing “feels that they can get away with it.” But he added that the coercive tactics have only made participants more determined to take part in the summit. 

Miriam Lexmann, a Slovakian member of the European Parliament whose party head was approached by Chinese diplomats, said the pressure underscored her reason for coming to Taiwan. 

We want to “exchange information, ways how to deal with those challenges and threats which China represents to the democratic part of the world, and of course, to support Taiwan,” she said. 
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Vandalism hits communication lines in France during Paris Olympics  

Posted on by SeeEU

Paris — The French government says multiple telecommunications lines have been hit by acts of vandalism, affecting fiber lines and fixed and mobile phone lines as cities around France are hosting events for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

The scale of the impact is unclear, as is whether it has affected any Olympic activities. The vandalism came after arson attacks hit train networks around France on Friday, hours before the Olympics opening ceremony. 

Marina Ferrari, secretary of state in charge of digital affairs, posted on X that damage in several regions overnight Sunday to Monday affected telecommunications operators. She said that led to localized impact on access to fiber lines and fixed and mobile telephone lines. 

Paris 2024 Olympics organizers would not immediately comment. 
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China rebukes US, Japan for ‘false accusations’ on maritime issues, military expansion

Posted on by SeeUS

BEIJING — Joint statements between the United States and Japan “falsely accuse” China on maritime issues and point fingers at its normal military development and defense policy, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

The ministry’s comment followed the U.S. and Japan’s criticism of what they called Beijing’s “provocative” behavior in the South and East China Seas, joint military exercises with Russia and the rapid expansion of its nuclear weapons arsenal.

U.S. and Japan leaders on Sunday unveiled a new military structure that would be implemented in parallel with Tokyo’s own plans to establish a joint command for its forces by March 2025.

It would be among several measures taken to address what the countries said was an “evolving security environment,” noting various threats from China.

“They maliciously attacked and discredited China on maritime issues and made irresponsible remarks on China’s normal military development and national defense policy,” said Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry during a regular press briefing.”

“China is strongly dissatisfied with the exaggeration of China’s threat and the malicious speculation of regional tensions,” Lin added.

The U.S. in annual reports on China’s military has called out the world’s second-largest economy for rapidly growing its military arsenal and nuclear warheads.

“China has always followed the path of peaceful development, firmly pursued a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, and its national defense construction and military activities are legitimate and reasonable,” Lin said.

He added that China “has always maintained its nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required for national security and does not pose a threat to any country.”

“We strongly urge the United States and Japan to immediately stop interfering with China’s internal affairs and stop creating imaginary enemies,” Lin said.
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Arab American leaders listen as Harris tries to shore up swing-state support

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DEARBORN, Mich — Osama Siblani’s phone won’t stop ringing.

Just days after President Joe Biden withdrew his bid for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination, top officials from both major political parties have been asking the publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News if Harris can regain the support of the nation’s largest Muslim population located in metro Detroit.

His response: “We are in listening mode.”

Harris, who is moving to seize the Democratic nomination after Biden stepped down, appears to be pivoting quickly to the task of convincing Arab American voters in Michigan, a state Democrats believe she can’t afford to lose in November, that she is a leader they can unite behind.

Community leaders have expressed a willingness to listen, and some have had initial conversations with Harris’ team. Many had grown exacerbated with Biden after they felt months of outreach had not yielded many results.

“The door is cracked open since Biden has stepped down,” said Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud. “There’s an opportunity for the Democratic nominee to coalesce the coalition that ushered in Biden’s presidency four years ago. But that responsibility will now fall on the vice president.”

Arab American leaders such as Hammoud and Siblani are watching closely for signals that Harris will be more vocal in pressing for a ceasefire. They’re excited by her candidacy but want to be sure she will be an advocate for peace and not an unequivocal supporter of Israel.

But Harris will need to walk a fine line not to publicly break with Biden’s position on the war in Gaza, where officials in his administration have been working diligently toward a ceasefire, mostly behind the scenes.

The divide within Harris’ own party was evident in Washington last week during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to address Congress. Some Democrats supported the visit, while others protested and refused to attend. Outside the Capitol, pro-Palestinian protesters were met with pepper spray and arrests.

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress whose district includes Dearborn, held up a sign that read “war criminal” during Netanyahu’s remarks.

Harris did not attend.

Some Arab American leaders interpret her absence — she instead attended a campaign event in Indianapolis — as a sign of good faith with them, though they recognize her ongoing responsibilities as vice president, including a meeting Thursday with Netanyahu.

Her first test within the community will come when Harris chooses a running mate. One of the names on her short list, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, has been public in his criticism of pro-Palestinian protesters and is Jewish. Some Arab American leaders in Michigan say putting him on the ticket would ramp up their unease about the level of support they could expect from a Harris administration.

“Josh Shapiro was one of the first ones to criticize the students on campus. So it doesn’t differentiate Harris very much if she picks him. That just says I’m going to continue the same policies as Biden,” said Rima Meroueh, director of the National Network for Arab American Communities.

Arab Americans are betting that their vote holds enough electoral significance in pivotal swing states like Michigan to ensure that officials will listen to them. Michigan has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation, and the state’s majority-Muslim cities overwhelmingly supported Biden in 2020. He won Dearborn, for example, by a roughly 3-to-1 margin over former President Donald Trump.

In February, over 100,000 Michigan Democratic primary voters chose “uncommitted,” securing two delegates to protest the Biden administration’s unequivocal support for Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. Nationally, “uncommitted” garnered a total of 36 delegates in the primaries earlier this year.

The groups leading this effort have called for — at a minimum — an embargo on all weapons shipments to Israel and a permanent ceasefire.

“If Harris called for an arms embargo, I would work around the clock every day until the election to get her elected,” said Abbas Alawieh, an “uncommitted” Michigan delegate and national leader of the movement. “There’s a real opportunity right now to unite the coalition. It’s on her to deliver, but we are cautiously optimistic.”

Those divisions were on full display Wednesday night when the Michigan Democratic Party brought together over 100 delegates to pitch them on uniting behind Harris. During the meeting, Alawieh, one of three state delegates who did not commit to Harris, was speaking when another delegate interrupted him by unmuting and telling him to “shut up,” using an expletive, according to Alawieh.

The call could be a preview of tensions expected to surface again in August, when Democratic leaders, lawmakers, and delegates convene in Chicago for the party’s national convention. Mass protests are planned, and the “uncommitted” movement intends to ensure their voices are heard within the United Center, where the convention will be held.

Trump and his campaign, meanwhile, are keenly aware of the turmoil within the Democratic base and are actively seeking the support of Arab American voters. That effort has been complicated by Trump’s history of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy during his one term as president.

A meeting between over a dozen Arab American leaders from across the country and several of Trump’s surrogates was convened in Dearborn last week. Among the surrogates was Massad Boulos, a Lebanese-born businessman whose son married Tiffany Trump, the former president’s younger daughter, two years ago. Boulos is leveraging his connections to rally support for Trump.

Part of the pitch that Boulos and Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Trump, made in Dearborn was that Trump has shown an openness to a two-state solution. He posted a letter on social media from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and pledged to work for peace in the Middle East.

“The three main points that were noted in the meeting were that Trump needs to state more clearly that he wants an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and that he supports the two-state solution, and that there is no such thing as a Muslim ban,” said Bahbah. “This is what the community wants to hear in a clear manner.”

Before a July 20 rally in Michigan, Trump also met with Bahbah, who pressed him about a two-state solution. According to Bahbah, Trump responded affirmatively, saying, “100%.”

But any apparent political opportunity for Trump may be limited by criticism from many Arab Americans about the former president’s ban on immigration from several majority Muslim countries and remarks they felt were insulting.

“I have not heard any individuals saying I’m now rushing to Donald Trump,” said Hammoud, Dearborn’s Democratic mayor. “I have yet to hear that in any of the conversations I’ve had. They all know what Donald Trump represents.”

Siblani, who organized Wednesday’s meeting with Trump surrogates, has spent months serving as an intermediary between his community and officials from all political parties and foreign dignitaries. Privately, he says, almost all express the need for a permanent ceasefire.

“Everybody wants our votes, but nobody wants to be seen as aligning with us publicly,” Siblani said.
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Thousands in Ukraine honor soldiers killed in blast, push to free prisoners

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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainians urged their government to do more to get Russia to release prisoners of war, voicing their anger on Sunday at a ceremony commemorating the second anniversary of an explosion that killed more than 50.

Several thousand soldiers and civilians gathered at Kyiv’s Independence Square Sunday to commemorate the second anniversary of an explosion that killed more than 50 Ukrainians that Russia held in the Olenivka prison barracks.

Impassioned speakers at the ceremony urged the Ukrainian government to work harder to get the soldiers freed in a prisoner exchange.

The Olenivka explosion was one of the most painful pages in the war, according to many soldiers.

“I was there in Olenivka. I was rocked by the explosion,” said Sgt. Kyrylo Masalitin, who was later released. “Never before have I felt so helpless. And those still in captivity feel that helplessness every day. They must know that we have done everything we can do to get them released.”

Behind Masalitin, more than 300 soldiers of the Azov brigade stood in formation. In unison they recited a prayer before holding aloft red flares to honor their comrades.

Russia has claimed that the Olenivka explosion was caused by Ukrainian forces firing a missile that hit the prison barracks. But increasing evidence suggests that Russian forces set off the explosion, according to an investigation by The Associated Press.

The AP interviewed more than a dozen people with direct knowledge of details of the attack, including survivors, investigators and families of the dead and missing. All described evidence they believe points directly to Russia as the culprit. AP also obtained an internal United Nations analysis that found the same. Despite the conclusion of the internal analysis that found Russia planned and executed the attack, the U.N. stopped short of accusing Russia in public statements.

Two years after the explosion, many Ukrainians still want to know exactly how it happened. The demonstration Sunday brought together people who are commemorating Olenivka with others who are protesting Russia’s imprisonment of Ukrainian fighters who defended the Azovstal steel works and were taken prisoner when Russia seized the city of Mariupol.

Many were also pressing for the release of Ukrainian soldiers who were defending the Avovstal steel works and were captured when Mariupol fell in 2022. At least 900 soldiers from the Azov brigade are held as prisoners of war by Russia. The “Free Azov” campaign has become a vociferous pressure group in Kyiv and holds weekly vigils to urge President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government to do a prisoner exchange to get free Ukrainian prisoners held by Russia.

“We’re here to remember those who died and also those in captivity. We’re here to push our government to work hard on this,” said a soldier who identified himself as Stanislav.

He said he had been a defender of Mariupol when the Russians invaded in February 2022 and he was injured in an artillery attack, losing his left arm. He was treated in the army base inside the Azovstal steel works before he was taken captive by the Russian forces and then released. After physical rehabilitation, Stanislav returned to the army and now works in military headquarters in Kyiv.

He said he will keep pushing for the release of captive soldiers.

“We’re here for a special reason, to see that our brothers-in-arms in captivity come back,” he said. “All of those in captivity.”

The event in the center of Kyiv drew together many families, including the mothers, wives and children of soldiers who were killed at Olenivka or are currently imprisoned by Russia.

Her voice cracking with emotion, Halyna Stafiichuk, 71, said her son is being held by the Russians and she hasn’t heard from him in more than two years.

“I’m crying every day. I’m just praying for a note from him that says he is OK and that he will be home soon,” said Stafiichuk. “We trust that God and our government will bring all our soldiers back.”
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Russia reports downing 19 Ukrainian drones over Kursk as part of latest aerial attacks

Posted on by SeeEU

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Indonesia’s big coal firms overlooking methane emissions: report

Posted on by SeeEA

Jakarta, Indonesia — Coal firms in major CO2 emitter Indonesia are overlooking planet-warming methane emissions, obscuring the full environmental impact of their operations, according to a report published Monday.

Methane — which is responsible for about one-third of warming from greenhouse gases — is a key focus for countries wanting to slash emissions quickly and slow climate change. 

London-based energy think tank Ember analyzed the emission profiles of 10 major coal-mining companies in Indonesia, collectively responsible for half of the archipelago’s coal production.

It found that only four of the 10 firms included coal mine methane (CMM) emissions in their emissions inventory, indicating that the environmental impact of coal mining in the country was not being wholly accounted for. 

“Failing to understand or report on these emissions appropriately undermines a company’s overall sustainability reporting. It also overlooks a potentially significant missed opportunity for emissions reduction,” the report said.

The companies’ CMM emissions “could exceed 8 million tones of CO2 equivalent, more than a third of the companies’ potential total emissions”, Ember said in a press release.

The CMM emissions of most major Indonesian coal firms may be “on par or greater than” their total emissions from fossil fuel combustion and purchased electricity, according to the report.

CMM, categorized as fugitive emissions or unintentional releases, refers to the methane released when coal is extracted or topsoil is removed.

Methane remains in the atmosphere for only about a decade, but it has a warming effect 28 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year timescale. Over a 20-year timescale, it has a warming impact around 80 times greater than CO2.

Analysts urged Indonesia’s coal firms to start taking the impact of methane emissions seriously to meet sustainability standards.

“Measuring and reporting methane emissions will be crucial in coal mining decarbonization efforts and ensuring compliance with national and international standards,” Ember analyst Dody Setiawan said.

Indonesia is one of the signatories of the voluntary Global Methane Pledge and Jakarta says it has committed to “take comprehensive domestic actions to achieve the global reduction of methane emissions” by 2030.
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Indonesia’s sea nomads turn to jobs on land

Posted on by SeeEA

INDONESIA — Sofyan Sabi’s sea-dwelling community has fished beneath the waves off the Indonesian coast for centuries, but climate change and overfishing have forced him and many of his contemporaries on land to make a living.

The Bajau tribe of fishermen led a nomadic life at sea for generations, spending days and nights on boats with thatched roofs in the waters between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Members of the tribe learn to dive from a young age, and their bodies have adapted over time to allow them to fish underwater for longer periods, researchers say.

But for the hundreds of Bajau people living on the tiny boardwalk island village of Pulau Papan in Indonesia, their ancestors’ unique way of life has all but died out.

“We changed professions. We are fishermen who work at a farm. Farming gives better income because there are many crops I can plant,” Sofyan said, adding that he owns a nearby two-hectare plot to grow corn and bananas.

“Sometimes we earn nothing by going to sea. Sometimes there are fish, sometimes there aren’t any,” the 39-year-old told AFP.

Trained to hold his breath between 10 and 15 meters (33 and 50 feet) deep since he was a child, Sofyan still scans the waters for sea cucumbers or an octopus that could earn him as much as 500,000 rupiah ($31).

Researchers attribute the Bajau ability to dive deeper and longer to a possible genetic mutation that has given them larger spleens, allowing their blood to store more oxygen.

But commercial overfishing and rising temperatures have made sea catches increasingly unpredictable, said Wengki Ariando, a researcher at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University who has studied the Bajau.

“They are facing decreasing marine resources,” he said.

As temperatures rise, fish migration and mating patterns change, corals are bleached, and the food chain changes.

More than half of Indonesia’s 11 fishery management areas are now listed as fully exploited.

The country’s fish stocks fell from 12.5 million metric tons in 2017 to 12 million in 2022, fishery ministry data shows.

“The fish are decreasing because too many people are catching them,” said 52-year-old fisherman Arfin, who goes by one name.

‘Changed their livelihood’

A dilapidated mile-long jetty takes visitors along turquoise waters onto Pulau Papan.

Davlin Ambotang, who lives on the island, says the Bajau first started to settle there three generations ago.

“They saw this island as suitable for building houses, so they settled there. No longer nomads, moving around,” he said.

But life on land has its own challenges.

Davlin’s brother runs a homestay banking on tourist visits.

He complains that authorities direct visitors to sleep at government-built cottages instead of helping Bajau businesses flourish.

“There’s no additional income for the people. The government controls everything,” said Sofyan.

“There are many arguments between them and the locals.”

The long stateless Bajau grew increasingly settled in villages like Pulau Papan in search of government recognition.

“The Bajau changed their livelihood because to get accepted as a people in Indonesia they have to be settled,” said Wengki, adding that the drive to register them officially began in the 1990s under dictator Suharto.

‘Difficulties on land’

Wooden boats sit at the edge of the island, while a main walkway cuts through it, splintering off into side jetties.

The village hosts a silver-domed mosque.

On a makeshift court, women play a game of volleyball, while a group of men sit around smoking cigarettes.

“The young generation, they look like they are missing their identity,” said Wengki.

“They are more like a land-based community.”

With internet access available on land, the Bajau have set up groups on social media with thousands of followers, helping each other with their problems.

“There is no development, nothing. From the district government, there were donations, each family gets two to three bags of rice every month,” said Tirsa Adodoa, a housewife in her 20s whose husband is a fisherman.

“It’s not enough if we only rely on catching octopuses. If the octopus price drops like right now… it’s not even enough for us to eat or buy things.”

But others yearn for the nomads to keep their seafaring ways — worrying future generations will be less like their boat-dwelling ancestors.

“Once they feel comfortable, it won’t be easy for them to go back to the sea,” said fisherman Muslimin, 49, who goes by one name.

“I wish they could work only as fishermen, because it’s fun. There are too many difficulties on the land.”
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