Month: August 2024

Burgeoning Africa gaming industry attracts major tech firms

Posted on by SeeAF

Nairobi, Kenya — Africa’s gaming industry is set to cross $1 billion in revenue this year. Rapid growth, driven by a young population, improved internet access, and more smartphones, has attracted major tech companies like Microsoft, Sony and Disney to invest in the sector.

The video game market in Africa has shown promising growth, from $862 million in revenue in 2022 to a projected $1 billion in 2024, an 8.7% increase, according to the Newzoo games analytics company.

Ebenezer Gasonoo, also known as Nomak when playing games, has been playing online since the 1990s. He said there was a time game developers did not recognize African players, and when he tried to sign up and list his home country as Ghana he was told the game didn’t support it and he would have to find another one to play.

“The first 10 years of active video gaming in Africa was bad,” he said. “I think with the boom of online systems and the boom of Africa getting into video games, you see certain games are geared toward the world but now they include Africa, and that’s very nice to see.”

An Africa game industry report says the number of gamers in sub-Saharan Africa has grown from 77 million in 2015 to 186 million in 2021. Ninety-five percent of gamers play on their mobile phones.

According to survey company Geopoll, for the majority, gaming is seen as a primary source of entertainment, relaxation and a remedy for boredom, with 73% playing for fun and 64% for stress relief.

African game developer Daniel Macharia of Kenya has been creating video games since 2015.

Macharia developed Nairobbery, an action-adventure game in which players navigate the city and encounter challenges inspired by real-life scenarios. They also explore iconic landmarks and hidden places in an exciting narrative that weaves local folklore and urban tales.

He said the game also features running battles between police and protesters, which is a common scene in many African countries, including Kenya. The two main characters are college students, he said, and in some levels of the game they face off against police.

“There was some kind of parallel serendipity that was happening there where the game was starting to mirror real life,” Macharia said. “That was just more validation that I chose to go the right way.”

The gaming sector is attracting funding from Microsoft, Disney and Sony, raising millions of dollars to develop more games and scale game consumption across the continent.

Jay Shapiro, chairman of the Pan African Gaming Group, said Africa attracts investments with its untapped storytelling potential.

“Africa has a heritage of thousands of years of stories and legends that have never been heard in a lot of the world,” he said. “So this new interest is giving voice to a lot of creators across the continent to share those stories. And I think that’s really powerful. And creating games where Africans can see themselves reflected in the game, which historically has never happened in the industry.”

Eyram Tawia, a Ghanaian game developer, said video games can help preserve African traditions.

“Video games also offer a medium to preserve culture for the long term that can be packaged and distributed globally with just one click across app stores if we keep producing local content,” Tawia said. “This is going to create a lot of revenue for the African continent.”

Recent investments, game camps and conferences in some African countries are helping to reduce the financial challenges faced by video game developers. The events support game development and education, making it easier for developers to create games and learn new skills.
…

your ad here

Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party says police will now release activists

Posted on by SeeAF

Harare, Zimbabwe — Human rights organizations reacted angrily Tuesday after Zimbabwe’s ruling party acknowledged that more than 100 activists were detained to keep them from protesting during a Southern Africa Development Community summit held over the past weekend.

Authorities said they will start to release those who were detained now that the meeting is over.

Speaking with journalists in Harare, ruling ZANU-PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa defended detaining the activists.

“Those are deviants, and they were dealt with properly. And we are very happy they failed. And they will never succeed again,” Mutsvangwa said as he giggled at several points during his comments.

Roselyn Hanzi, director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which is representing the activists, said that their detention is no laughing matter.

“Every person in Zimbabwe should be worried where the ruling party openly admits that it fully controls one of the key arms of government that is supposed to provide checks and balances and in fact protect the citizens from the excesses of the other two arms: the legislature and the executive,” she told VOA.

“The judiciary is very key and plays a central role in protecting citizens and ensuring that their rights are realized,” she said. “In this case, you see them admitting that there [are] those people that wanted to protest. … Protest[ing] is not criminal, and it’s not a privilege. You should not be negotiating or begging for it.”

Zimbabwe’s Judicial Service Commission did not comment Tuesday when contacted by VOA.

Mary Lawlor, a U.N. special rapporteur on human rights, called for the immediate release of the activists, alleging that some had been tortured during their detainment by Zimbabwean authorities. State prosecutors and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission said they are investigating the allegations.

“The disrespect shown by the ZANU-PF spokesperson who laughed and joked about such a serious matter at his press conference is telling,” Lawlor said. “The president, [Emmerson] Mnangagwa, has shown how little he believes in the rule of law and how little in SADC’s commitment to human rights as chairman. He wants to pretend that everything in Zimbabwe is rosy and fine. But it is not fine. These charges were a travesty.”

Since taking over in 2017, Mnangagwa has maintained that he is a constitutionalist and respects the rule of law.

But rights lawyer and legislator Daniel Molokele said the law is being selectively applied against democracy activists. Molokele is a member of the country’s main opposition party — the Citizens Coalition for Change — whose members were arrested ahead of the SADC meeting.

“I think what the ZANU-PF spokesperson said clearly confirms what we have always said is happening in Zimbabwe,” Molokele said. “There is too much political interference in the judicial system. There is no rule of law in Zimbabwe. We do not have a proper judicial system because it’s clear that ZANU-PF is abusing our court system for its political benefit.”

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said it hopes the detained activists will be released soon, now that the SADC summit is over. The group said it will decide what steps to take next after hearing from the activists.
…

your ad here

Day after Putin visit, Azerbaijan applies to join Russia, China in BRICS alliance

Posted on by SeeEU

Baku, Azerbaijan — Azerbaijan formally applied Tuesday to join the BRICS bloc of developing economies, a day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s visit to the oil-rich South Caucasus country to shore up regional ties and secure Moscow’s under-pressure trade routes.

The announcement from the foreign ministry in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, comes as the BRICS alliance has seen a major expansion. For over a decade, the bloc included just five nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joined in January, and Saudi Arabia has said it’s considering doing so as well.

The club already includes some of the world’s biggest oil producers, and accounts for well over a quarter of the world’s GDP. Its members Russia and Iran have had their relations with the West stretched to breaking point over Moscow’s war on Ukraine and Iran’s regional policies.

Business ties were high on the agenda during the meeting between Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Monday, with Aliyev announcing that $120 million had been earmarked to boost cargo transport between the two countries.

Putin increasingly depends on countries such as Azerbaijan to access global markets because of sanctions imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, according to political scientist Zardusht Alizade.

For Azerbaijan, retaining Moscow’s good-will is important for national security over tensions with neighboring Armenia, said Alizade.

Russia has been Armenia’s longtime sponsor and ally since the fall of the Soviet Union. But relations between them became increasingly strained since Sept. 2023, when Azerbaijan’s military took control of the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule.

Armenia accused Russian peacekeepers deployed to the region of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s onslaught. Moscow, which has a military base in Armenia, argued that its troops didn’t have a mandate to intervene.
…

your ad here

Russian sources: Ukraine has destroyed or damaged all three bridges over Russia’s Seym River

Posted on by SeeEU

Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces have either destroyed or damaged all three of the bridges over the Seym River in western Russia, according to Russian sources, as Kyiv’s incursion into western Russia entered its third week Tuesday.

Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is changing the trajectory of the war and boosting morale among Ukraine’s war-weary population, though the ultimate outcome of the incursion — the first attack on Russia since World War II — remains impossible to predict.

Even as Ukraine hails its success on Russian territory, the Russian push in eastern Ukraine is poised to claim another key center, the city of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine’s attacks on the three bridges over the Seym River in Kursk could potentially trap Russian forces between the river, the Ukrainian advance and the Ukrainian border. Already they appear to be slowing down Russia’s response to the Kursk incursion, which Ukraine launched on Aug. 6.

Over the weekend, Ukraine’s Air Force commander posted two videos of bridges over the Seym being hit, and satellite photos by Planet Labs PBC analyzed Tuesday by The Associated Press confirmed that a bridge in the town of Glushkovo had been destroyed.

A Russian military investigator confirmed Monday that Ukraine had “totally destroyed” one bridge and damaged two others in the area. The full extent of the damage remained unclear.

“As a result of targeted shelling with the use of rocket and artillery weapons against residential buildings and civilian infrastructure in the Karyzh village … a third bridge over the Seym River was damaged,” the unnamed representative for Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a video published on the Telegram channel of Russian state TV anchor Vladimir Solovyov.

Russian military bloggers Vladimir Romanov and Yuri Podolyaka and several high-profile pro-war Telegram channels in Russia also claimed that the third bridge had been targeted and damaged. Podolyaka’s post was shared by Roman Alekhin, an advisor to Kursk’s acting regional governor.

Since the incursion into the Kursk region began, the Ukrainian army has captured 1,250 square kilometers (480 square miles) and 92 settlements, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

Zelenskyy said in recent days that the operation is aimed at creating a buffer zone that can prevent future attacks on his nation from across the border, and that Ukraine is capturing a large number of Russian prisoners of war that it hopes to exchange for captured Ukrainians.

TASS, a Russian state news agency, reported that 17 people have died and 140 have been injured in Ukraine’s incursion, citing an unnamed source in the Russian medical service. Of 75 people hospitalized, four are children.

Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said Tuesday afternoon that more than 500 people had left dangerous areas in the Kursk region over the past 24 hours. In total, more than 122,000 people have been resettled since the Ukrainian attack began, it said.

In another example of Ukraine taking the war to Russian soil, a massive fire burned for the third consecutive day after an oil depot was hit by Ukrainian drones.

The fire at the depot in the town of Proletarsk burned across an area of a hectare (2 1/2 acres), according to Russian state news agencies. There were 500 firefighters involved in the operation, and 41 of them already have been hospitalized with injuries, according to TASS, citing local officials.

Ukraine’s Army General Staff claimed responsibility Sunday for attacking the oil depot, which was used to supply the needs of Russia’s army, calling it a measure “to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian Federation.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the Ukrainians of “trying to destabilize our country” and compared them to terrorists.

“We will punish the criminals. There can be no doubt about that,” Putin said Tuesday. He was meeting with mothers of children killed in the 2004 Beslan school attack by Islamic militants that left more than 330 people dead.

Ukraine’s incursion has exposed Russian vulnerabilities according to analysts and Ukrainian officials.

Zelenskyy said Monday that he believes Ukraine’s actions would help to dispel Western fears of offering more robust military aid to Kyiv. Some allies have been handing over weapons slowly and imposing limits on how they can be used, fearing that crossing a Russian “red-line” could lead to escalation, even nuclear escalation.

“We have now achieved an extremely important ideological shift: the naive and illusory concept of so-called ‘red lines’ regarding Russia that dominated the assessments of the war by some of our partners has crumbled these days somewhere near Sudzha,” the president said, referring to a seized Russian town under Ukrainian control.

Much remains unknown about Ukrainian operations in Russia but satellite images provide some clues.

Pontoon bridges — temporary bridges used by militaries when formal bridges are blown out — could be seen in the satellite images provide by Planet Labs PBC in two different positions along the Seym River in recent days. The pontoons likely were built by Russian troops trying to supply forces around the Ukrainian advance.

One pontoon bridge appeared along the serpentine path of the river between Glushkovo and the village of Zvannoye on Saturday, but not in images taken Monday. On Monday, smoke could be seen rising along the banks of the river nearby — typically the sign of a strike.

Meanwhile along the frontline in eastern Ukraine, Russia continued to bear down on the city of Pokrovsk, one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region, forcing Kyiv’s forces to pull back and Ukrainian civilians to flee their homes. Its capture would compromise Ukraine’s defensive abilities and supply routes and would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region.

Russia’s relentless six-month slog across the region following the capture of Avdiivka, has cost both sides heavily in troops and armor. 

Russia wants control of all parts of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, which together make up the Donbas industrial region. 
…

your ad here

Nigeria battles drug use among minors

Posted on by SeeAF

According to Nigeria drug enforcement agency statistics, more than 14 million people in the country misuse drugs. Some of them are children or teens. Alhassan Bala reports from Kano, Nigeria.
…

your ad here

Thailand’s Shinawatra dynasty back on top, but for how long? 

Posted on by SeeEA

Bangkok — Promoted to the prime minister’s office after a court ruling took out her predecessor, experts say Thailand’s youngest ever leader, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, may be the last card her political dynasty has to play as it seeks to win back the Thai electorate. 

But the risks of frontline Thai power have been spotlighted in recent weeks by judges who have once more shown they are willing to shape the politics of a kingdom trapped in a two decade-long political crisis.

Paetongtarn is the 37-year-old daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been at the center of Thailand’s political breakdown since he won a landslide election in 2001.  

On Sunday she formally became Thailand’s 31st prime minister after the unexpected removal of real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin from office, by the Constitutional Court on an ethics probe. 

Paetongtarn was voted in by parliament, despite having limited direct political experience and never having been elected to office by the public.  In her first press conference she insisted she will be her ‘’own person, with her own goals.”  

But few believe that Thaksin, a 75-year-old billionaire who was twice prime minister before being dumped from office by a 2006 coup, will hold back from pulling the strings of government. 

He returned to Thailand on August 22 of last year after a 15-year exile in an apparent deal to share power with his former arch-royalist enemies and block the pro-democracy Move Forward Party (MFP) from government. 

‘’Thaksin is still very much actively involved behind the scenes,’’ said Verapat Pariyawong, who teaches Thai law and politics at the University of London SOAS and also advises Thai parliamentary committees.  ‘’His daughter is about to take on one of the toughest jobs that he knows all too well.” 

Shinawatra parties were once seen as the populist champion of the poor and therefore a threat to the royalist elite, which hit them with two coups and endless court cases. 

But the democracy cause has been taken up by Move Forward, which won the last election in 2023 and shocked the Thaksin-founded Pheu Thai party by beating it into second place. 

‘’Since the Pheu Thai party lost the election their only priority is to win the next one, everything else is just a side dish,” Sirote Klampaiboon, an independent scholar and political commentator, told VOA. “Their main course is winning the next election.” 

Move Forward was dissolved a week before Srettha was removed from office by the same court, the latest move by what Sirote described as Thailand’s ‘’parallel powers’’ that favor a conservative settlement to power. 

The MFP has rebranded as the People’s Party and is setting its sights on rebuilding toward a decisive victory in the 2027 elections. 

Damaged brand  

Paetongtarn’s first task is to appoint a cabinet that reflects the interests of the coalition government, with powerful conservative factions likely to jostle for the biggest ministries. 

Thailand’s economy is also sluggish and the removal of Srettha’s government has put into doubt a nearly $14 billion digital cash handout to stimulate the economy as well as big infrastructure projects such as a “land bridge” across the south of the country to cut shipping times from Asia as well as a plan to legalize mega-casinos to boost tax revenue.  

In her first address as prime minister, Paetongtarn said she is “devoted to making every square inch of Thailand a land of opportunities, where everyone dares to dream, create and to write their own future.”  

The problem, Paetongtarn’s critics say, is many Thais no longer see their country as a place of opportunity. Household debt is at record levels [over 90 percent], wages are low and pro-democracy voters say the economy is divided by monopoly businesses and political power shared by a narrow elite, which is for now again dominated by Paetongtarn’s family. 

“The Shinawatra ‘brand’ is unsellable these days, the populist policies proved that they don’t work because 20 years gone by and people are still poor and indebted,” Aat Pisanwanich, an independent scholar and international economy expert, told VOA. “Under this government, everything will be the same if not worse… based on many interviews by Paetongtarn, she has little grasp of our economic problems.” 

There may also be threats lurking from inside Thailand’s politics where loyalties and alliances quickly change and the courts are always on standby to intervene.  

Analyst Sirote says the government will be preparing for potential “nail-biting circumstances” such as cabinet picks being scrutinized for past wrongdoings or any dubious assets Paetongtarn may have. 

But you can never rule out a family that has had three direct members as prime minister and two others heading its parties, he adds. 

“Even if something were to happen to Paethongtarn politically, the Shinawatra brand will not just disappear from Thai politics.”
…

your ad here

Russia’s top court extends detention for Navalny’s lawyers, pending trial on extremism charges

Posted on by SeeEU

MOSCOW — Russia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of three lawyers who once represented Russia’s slain opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, and are now facing charges of extremism. It also refused to transfer their case to a different court, even as the defense alleged a conflict of interest. 

Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Alexei Liptser were arrested in October in a case widely seen at the time as a means to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin’s fiercest foe. 

According to Navalny’s allies, authorities accused the lawyers of using their status as defense attorneys to pass letters from the imprisoned politician to his team, thus serving as intermediaries between Navalny and what they called his “extremist group.” 

Navalny’s organizations in Russia — the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and a vast network of regional offices — were outlawed and labeled as extremist groups in 2021, a step that exposed anyone involved with them to prosecution. 

Lawyers for the three attorneys had petitioned the Supreme Court to transfer their case away from a court in Russia’s western Vladimir region, claiming it may not be objective or impartial. 

The defense argued the bulk of the prosecution’s evidence was gathered in a law enforcement raid they consider illegal, and that had been ordered by a superior court in the same region — something they said constituted a conflict of interest. It also charged that courts in Vladimir had pressured Navalny’s lawyers to disclose confidential communications with him before the politician’s February death in a remote Arctic prison. 

Navalny himself had been serving prison terms totaling more than 30 years, including on extremism charges tied to his anti-corruption activism. He and his allies had rejected all charges against him as politically motivated, and accused the Kremlin of seeking to jail him for life. 

Russian authorities in February also put two more of Navalny’s lawyers on a wanted list. One of them, Olga Mikhailova, who had defended the politician for a decade, said she had been previously charged in absentia with extremism after fleeing the country. The other, Alexander Fedulov, also said last year that he was no longer in Russia.
…

your ad here

US sanctions former Haitian president over drug trafficking

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Haiti’s former president, Michel Joseph Martelly, over drug trafficking, accusing him of playing a significant role in perpetuating the ongoing crisis in the country.

The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said Martelly “abused his influence to facilitate the trafficking of dangerous drugs, including cocaine, destined for the United States.”

The department said he also worked with Haitian drug traffickers, sponsored multiple gangs and engaged in the laundering of illicit drug proceeds.

“Today’s action against Martelly emphasizes the significant and destabilizing role he and other corrupt political elites have played in perpetuating the ongoing crisis in Haiti,” Treasury’s Acting Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith said in the statement.

“The United States, along with our international partners, is committed to disrupting those who facilitate the drug trafficking, corruption and other illicit activities fueling the horrific gang violence and political instability.”

Tuesday’s action freezes any of Martelly’s U.S. assets and generally bars Americans from dealing with him.

Gang wars have displaced more than 578,000 Haitians, while nearly 5 million — almost half the population of 11.7 million — face acute hunger, with 1.6 million of those people at risk of starvation, the United Nations says.

Armed gangs have formed a broad alliance while carrying out widespread killings, ransom kidnappings and sexual violence.
…

your ad here

King Charles visits UK town where child stabbings sparked riots

Posted on by SeeEU

Southport, United Kingdom — King Charles III on Tuesday visited the town in northwest England where a devastating knife attack that killed three young girls sparked nationwide anti-immigration riots.

The 75-year-old monarch inspected a vast sea of floral tributes to the victims and will meet children who survived the attack in the seaside town of Southport.

Buckingham Palace said he wanted to thank “frontline emergency staff for their ongoing work serving local people.”

Charles was criticized by some, including historian Kate Williams, for not issuing a public statement on the riots. Although the monarch conveyed his condolences to the families of the three girls killed, he did not comment on the unrest until nearly two weeks later. Traditionally, the monarch does not comment on anything that could cause political controversy.

But in calls with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and police chiefs, the king later said he had been “greatly encouraged” by the reaction “that countered the aggression and criminality from a few with the compassion and resilience of the many.”

Footage showed the king waving to people as he walked through the town center.

He was later set to meet regional leaders, representatives from the emergency services and others. They will include local groups and faith leaders affected by the violent disorder that hit Southport the day after the July 29 mass stabbing.

Charles was also due to meet privately with some of those caught up in the knife attack, which claimed the lives of three girls, ages 6, 7 and 9, and injured 10 others, eight of them also children.

The meeting was to include some of the surviving children who were present at the community center, as well as their families.

The children were attending a dance class when an assailant entered the building and began attacking them.

Axel Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time, has been charged with murder and attempted murder over the stabbing spree. A motive for the atrocity has not been disclosed, but police have said it is not being treated as terrorism related.

More than a dozen English towns and cities saw unrest and riots in the week that followed the events in Southport.

Officials have blamed far-right elements for helping to stir up the disorder, which targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers as well as police officers and other properties.

The authorities have cited misinformation spread online that Rudakubana was a Muslim asylum seeker for fueling the violence. He was actually born in Britain to parents who hail from Rwanda, an overwhelmingly Christian country.

In the immediate aftermath of the July 29 tragedy, Charles and Queen Camilla conveyed their condolences to the families of the three girls killed but did not comment on the near-daily riots for some time.

The king eventually praised British police and emergency services “for all they are doing to restore peace in those areas that have been affected by violent disorder.”

He hoped the “shared values of mutual respect and understanding will continue to strengthen and unite the nation,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson had said.

The riots have led to more than a thousand arrests and hundreds of convictions, after Prime Minister Starmer vowed those who participated would be quickly called to account.
…

your ad here

Kenyan held over discovery of dismembered bodies escapes

Posted on by SeeAF

Nairobi — A suspect who police said confessed to killing 42 women and was being detained over the discovery of dismembered bodies in Kenya’s capital has escaped from police custody, officials said Tuesday.

Mohamed Amin, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, said Collins Jumaisi Khalusha escaped along with 12 other inmates of Eritrean nationality who had been arrested for being in the country illegally.

Acting police inspector general Gilbert Masengeli said disciplinary measures have been taken against eight officers, including the area and station commanders and officers who were on duty. 

“Our preliminary investigations indicate that the escape was aided by insiders considering that officers were deployed accordingly to guard the station,” he said. 

A police report said the inmates escaped early Tuesday morning after they cut through wire mesh in the cell and scaled the perimeter wall. The escape was discovered as breakfast was being taken into the cell. 

Khalusha, 33, was being detained at the police station after a court allowed detectives seven more days to investigate his alleged crimes before charging him. 

Khalusha was arrested in July after 10 bodies and several body parts were found wrapped in plastic sacks in the Kware area of Nairobi. 

Police said Khalusha confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife. 

“This was a high-value suspect who was to face serious charges. We are investigating the incident and will take action accordingly,” Amin said. 

Khalusha’s lawyer, John Maina Ndegwa, told journalists his client was tortured and forced to confess and maintained he was not guilty. 

Ndegwa told the AP that he last spoke to Khalusha on Friday when he was presented in court. 

“I’m also confounded by the news,” he said. 

The police station from which the suspects escaped was cordoned off with crime scene tape and senior police officers visited it on Tuesday afternoon. 

Two other suspects who were arrested after being found with cellphones belonging to some of the deceased women are to return to court next Monday. 

Police in July said the bodies were discovered after relatives of one missing woman said they had a dream in which she told them to search in a quarry. 

The relatives asked a local diver to help and he discovered the bodies wrapped in sacks. Six bodies were identified after DNA tests, but several body parts remain unidentified. 
…

your ad here

China’s Xi promises stronger Fiji ties in world of ‘turmoil’ 

Posted on by SeeEA

Beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to strengthen ties with Fiji in a world beset with “turmoil” as he met the Pacific island’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in Beijing on Tuesday.

China has stepped up its courtship of South Pacific nations in recent years, triggering concern among Western powers — particularly the United States and Australia — that have historically held sway over the region.

Rabuka met Xi in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People after touring the length and breadth of China for more than a week.

“(Our) two countries have always supported and helped each other as good friends, good partners, and have become a model of being equals and friendly cooperation between countries large and small,” Xi told Rabuka.

He said Beijing was keen to “promote the building of a China-Fiji community with a shared future in a world of turmoil and chaos, and to bring more benefits to our people.”

Xi also praised Fiji’s recent sporting successes in rugby, for which it won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics last month.

Rabuka thanked the Chinese leader, telling Xi that “Fiji stands ready to send rugby coaches and players to come to China to play with Chinese teams.”

He also hailed Xi’s meeting last year with US President Joe Biden in San Francisco, where he said “you might have achieved peace for the world.”

Rabuka has taken a more cautious line over China’s growing security interests in the Pacific, praising Fiji’s warming ties with Beijing while saying he preferred to deal with democratic “traditional friends” on security.

Fiji and China signed a series of bilateral deals on trade, military aid, infrastructure and Chinese-language education during Rabuka’s trip, according to statements by both governments.

Premier Li Qiang pledged at a meeting with Rabuka on Sunday to boost imports from Fiji and encourage Chinese investment there, according to a Chinese government readout.

Rabuka also hailed Beijing’s “tailor-made innovative poverty alleviation strategies” during a trip to Ningde city in eastern China’s Fujian province.

The Fijian premier last met Xi at an Asia-Pacific economic summit in San Francisco last year, when the Chinese leader committed to helping Fiji safeguard its “security and sovereignty.”

Rabuka said after those talks China could help develop Fiji’s ports and shipyards and praised Beijing’s record of aid to his country in fighting Covid-19, developing agriculture and revamping infrastructure.

China alarmed Western countries when it signed a secretive defense pact with Solomon Islands last year, sparking fears it could deploy military forces there.

The Solomons’ Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele visited China in June and the Pacific nation later said Beijing would inject $20 million into its government budget.
…

your ad here

Powell may use Jackson Hole speech to hint at how fast and how far the Fed could cut rates

Posted on by SeeUS

Washington — Federal Reserve officials have said they’re increasingly confident that they’ve nearly tamed inflation. Now, it’s the health of the job market that’s starting to draw their concern.

With inflation cooling toward its 2% target, the pace of hiring slowing and the unemployment rate edging up, the Fed is poised to cut its benchmark interest rate next month from its 23-year high. How fast it may cut rates after that, though, will be determined mainly by whether employers keep hiring. A lower Fed benchmark rate would eventually lead to lower rates for auto loans, mortgages and other forms of consumer borrowing.

Chair Jerome Powell will likely provide some hints about how the Fed sees the economy and what its next steps may be in a high-profile speech Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the Fed’s annual conference of central bankers. It’s a platform that Powell and his predecessors have often used to signal changes in their thinking or approach.

Powell will likely indicate that the Fed has grown more confident that inflation is headed back to the 2% target, which it has long said would be necessary before rate cuts would begin.

Economists generally agree that the Fed is getting closer to conquering high inflation, which brought financial pain to millions of households beginning three years ago as the economy rebounded from the pandemic recession. Few economists, though, think Powell or any other Fed official is prepared to declare “mission accomplished.”

“I don’t think that the Fed has to fear inflation,” said Tom Porcelli, U.S. chief economist at PGIM Fixed Income. “At this point, it’s right that the Fed is now more focused on labor versus inflation. Their policy is calibrated for inflation that is much higher than this.”

Still, how fast the Fed cuts rates in the coming months will depend on what the economic data shows. After the government reported this month that hiring in July was much less than expected and that the jobless rate reached 4.3%, the highest in three years, stock prices plunged for two days on fears that the U.S. might fall into a recession. Some economists began speculating about a half-point Fed rate cut in September and perhaps another identical cut in November.

But healthier economic reports last week, including another decline in inflation and a robust gain in retail sales, have largely dispelled those concerns. Wall Street traders now expect three quarter-point Fed cuts in September, November and December, though in December it’s nearly a coin-toss between a quarter- and a half-point cut. Mortgage rates have already started to decline in anticipation of a rate reduction.

A half-point Fed rate cut in September would become more likely if there were signs of a further slowdown in hiring, some officials have said. The next jobs report will be issued on Sept. 6, after the Jackson Hole conference but before the Fed’s next meeting in mid-September.

Raphael Bostic, president of the Fed’s Atlanta branch, said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press that “evidence of accelerating weakness in labor markets may warrant a more rapid move, either in terms of the increments of movement or the speed at which we try to get back” to a level of rates that no longer restricts the economy.

Even if hiring stays solid, the Fed is set to cut rates this year given the steady progress that’s been made on inflation, economists say. Last week, the government said consumer prices rose just 2.9% in July from a year ago, the smallest such increase in more than three years.

Bostic noted that the economy has changed from just a couple of months ago, when he was suggesting that a rate cut might not be necessary until the final three months of the year.

“I’ve got more confidence that we are likely to get to our target for inflation,” he said. “And we’ve seen labor markets weaken considerably relative to where they were” last year. “We might need to shift our policy stance sooner than I would have thought before.”

Both Bostic and Austan Goolsbee, president of the Fed’s Chicago branch, say that with inflation falling, inflation-adjusted interest rates — which are what many businesses and investors pay most attention to — are rising even as inflation has slowed. When the Fed first set its key rate at its current 5.3%, inflation — excluding volatile energy and food costs — was 4.7%. Now, it’s just 3.2%.

“Our policies are getting tighter with every moment in that type of situation,” Bostic said. “We have to be concerned” that rates are so high they could cause an economic slowdown.

Still, Bostic said that for now, the job market and the economy appear mostly healthy, and he still expects a “soft landing,” whereby inflation falls back to the Fed’s 2% target without a recession occurring.

With the economy’s outlook unclear and the Fed focusing heavily on what future data shows, there may be only so much Powell will be able to say Friday about the central bank’s next steps.

Given the Fed’s focus on how the economic data comes in, “it will be difficult for Powell to pre-commit to a particular trajectory at Jackson Hole,” Matthew Luzzetti, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, said in a research note.
…

your ad here

India, Malaysia to expand ties, defense cooperation as Kuala Lumpur tries to move closer to Beijing  

Posted on by SeeEA

NEW DELHI — India and Malaysia will seek to expand economic ties and strengthen cooperation on defense and security, the leaders of the two countries said on Tuesday. 

This came during Malaysian Prime Minster Anwar Ibrahim’s visit to India, his first since he took office in 2022, where he met with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. 

Recently, Anwar has sought to move closer to China, with whom New Delhi has been locked in a long-running border dispute. A key part of Modi’s foreign policy has been to deepen trade and ties with other Asian countries, including Malaysia, to push back against growing Chinese influence in the region. 

Both heads of state addressed reporters after signing a slew of new agreements, including digital technologies, tourism and traditional medicine. Anwar said the two countries have enjoyed good relations for years, adding that “we realized this must be strengthened in a multitude of areas,” including construction, agriculture and military collaborations to safeguard both nations’ borders. 

Modi said the two had discussed cooperation in the defense sector, and that trade and investment between the two countries should grow while they collaborate on new industries like the production of semiconductors. He also stressed how the partnership between the two countries had grown, taking on “new momentum and energy” over the years. 

Earlier on Tuesday, the Malaysian prime minister received a ceremonial welcome at India’s presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan before paying his respects to Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi at the Rajghat memorial site in New Delhi. 

Bilateral trade between the two countries is strong at $20 billion. Malaysia is India’s 16th largest trading partner, while India is among the top ten largest trading partners for Malaysia. There are around 70 Malaysian companies operating in India and more than 150 Indian ones in Malaysia, where Indians comprise about 7% of the country’s population.
…

your ad here

After yacht sinks off Italy, search resumes for six missing

Posted on by SeeEU

PALERMO, Sicily — Rescue teams in Sicily on Tuesday resumed a search for six missing people, including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter, after a luxury yacht was struck by a violent storm and sank on Monday, killing at least one on board.

The British-flagged “Bayesian,” a 56-meter-long sailboat was carrying 22 people and was anchored just off the port of Porticello when it was hit by ferocious weather.

Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance who represented Lynch in a U.S. trial, were among the missing.

The wives of both men were also unaccounted for, said Salvatore Cocina, head of civil protection in Sicily.

“The fear is that the bodies got trapped inside the vessel,” he told Reuters.

Prosecutors in the nearby town of Termini Imerese have opened an investigation.

Specialist divers had reached the ship on Monday at a depth of some 50 meters, but access was limited due to objects in the way, the fire brigade said.

Fifteen people had escaped before the boat went down, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, who owned the boat, and a 1-year-old girl.

On Monday, rescue teams recovered the body of the yacht’s onboard chef, identified as Antiguan citizen Ricardo Thomas.

Storms and heavy rainfall have swept Italy in recent days, after weeks of scorching heat lifted the temperature of the Mediterranean sea to record levels, raising the risk of extreme weather conditions, experts said.

“The sea surface temperature around Sicily was around 30 degrees Celsius, which is almost 3 degrees more than normal. This creates an enormous source of energy that contributes to these storms,” said meteorologist Luca Mercalli.

“We can’t say that this is all due to global warming but we can say that it has an amplifying effect,” he told Reuters.

The British government’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch said four inspectors had been sent to Sicily to conduct a “preliminary assessment.”

One expert at the scene of the disaster who declined to be named said an early focus of the investigation would be whether the yacht’s crew had had time to close access hatches into the vessel before the storm struck.
…

your ad here

In Uganda’s chaotic capital, motorcycle taxis are a source of life and death

Posted on by SeeAF

KAMPALA, Uganda — The young men perched on motorcycles looked dazed in the morning heat. But at the sight of a potential passenger, they furiously kick-started their machines and tried to outrace each other for the business.

For tens of thousands of men in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, this is how to make a living. For others, the speeding motorcycles embody the city’s chaos as an essential but menacing means of transport.

The motorcycle taxis, known locally as boda-bodas, are ubiquitous in East African capitals like Nairobi and Kigali. But nowhere in the region have boda-boda numbers been surging more dramatically than in Kampala, a city of 3 million people, no mass transit system and rampant unemployment.

An estimated 350,000 boda-bodas operate in Kampala, driven by men who come from all parts of Uganda and say there are no other jobs for them.

“We just do this one because we have nothing to do,” said one driver, Zubairi Idi Nyakuni. “All of us here, other people even, they have their degrees, they have their master’s (degrees), but they are just here. They have nothing to do.”

The boda-boda men, who operate mostly unregulated, have resisted recent attempts to dislodge them from the narrow streets of Kampala’s central business district, frustrating city authorities and underscoring the government’s fears over the consequences of angering a horde of jobless men.

“We must appreciate where the boda-boda comes from, how this whole phenomenon grew,” said Charles M. Mpagi, spokesman for Tugende, a Kampala-based company that specializes in financing boda-boda purchases. “You have quite a large number of people that are young, who can’t find jobs to do, whether in the public sector or the private sector, and they do not have significant alternative income to get into other enterprises.”

About 76% of Uganda’s 43 million people are under 35, according to government figures. Jobs are scarce in an economy where just 1% of 22.8 million employees make $270 or more in monthly pay, according to central bank figures released earlier this year.

Uganda’s unemployment rate — as a proportion of unemployed people to the total labor force — grew from 9% in 2019 to 12% in 2021, according to the most recent survey by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The unemployment rate for people between 18 and 30 was even higher, at 17%. For young people in urban areas, it was 19%.

President Yoweri Museveni, an authoritarian who has held power since 1986, has long embraced boda-boda men as mobilizers of political support. Political rallies come alive with the hooting from their motorcycles, whose commotion can bring communities to a standstill.

Motorcycles as a means of transport first emerged on the Uganda-Kenya border during political instability in the 1970s, with the term “boda-boda” traced to drivers who shouted “border, border” at potential customers.

At the time, they were also a quick way to transport smugglers and their merchandise.

Now they are everywhere in Uganda, taking children to school, people to offices, the sick to clinics and even the dead to their graves.

When Uganda’s transport minister was wounded by gunmen who killed his daughter in 2021, a boda-boda man rushed him to the hospital. But the attackers also drove motorcycles and fled.

Annual police reports cite motorcycle taxis in abetting violent crime, and the number of fatal accidents related to motorcycles across Uganda grew from 621 in 2014 to 1,404 in 2021, according to the Ministry of Works and Transport.

“We’ve been struggling with these motorcycles,” said Winstone Katushabe, a government commissioner in charge of transport regulation. “It is not a good situation.”

A culture of non-compliance with traffic and road safety rules has proliferated among boda-boda men, he said, adding that establishing official motorcycle taxi stands in Kampala would help bring order.

Road safety regulations for motorcycles, first approved in 2004, are difficult to enforce because of the overwhelming number of boda-bodas. Traffic police look on as boda-boda men zip through traffic lights and overtake dangerously. They are often unable to make arrests because of the risk to public order as drivers quickly stand up for one another, causing a crowd.

The boda-boda phenomenon has grown as Uganda’s president has stayed in power. In recent years, trying to weaken support among unemployed people for his opponents, Museveni has gifted boda-bodas to supporters and pledged to reduce the three-year licensing fee from nearly $100.

The fee will drop to about $35 under new rules announced earlier this month, according to the Transport Licensing Board. That would make it even easier to become a boda-boda man.

The other entry price is about $1,500 for a new motorcycle, often the Indian-made Bajaj.

Many boda-boda men acquire equipment on credit through companies such as Tugende. Others work for businesspeople who buy motorcycles in bulk and distribute them among drivers but can repossess them if drivers fall behind on payments.

Boda-boda men who lack driving licenses and crash helmets risk having their motorcycles impounded by police. Some drivers told the AP their aggressive behavior on the roads is driven by that fear of arrest or seizure.

Innocent Awita, a boda-boda man who dropped out of school in 2008, said there was “too much pressure” to keep his motorcycle. He’s required to pay his employer the equivalent of $4 a day in addition to fueling and maintaining it. A falling out with his employer could render him jobless.

Some days are better than others, but Awita said he sometimes goes without enough earnings to make the daily payment.

“I can work for three days without getting anything. But if I get something the next day, that can save my life,” he said.
…

your ad here

Nigerian forces search for abducted medical students

Posted on by SeeAF

Abuja, Nigeria — Police in Nigeria are searching for 20 medical students who were kidnapped by gunmen Thursday.

The students were on their way to a medical convention when their motorcade was intercepted in central Benue State.

The Benue State police command Monday told VOA it has launched an investigation into the abduction of the medical students and deployed tactical teams on a rescue mission. 

But they said the teams have not reported any success. 

Twenty medical students from universities of Jos and Maiduguri and a medical doctor traveling with them were taken on their way to the conference in eastern Enugu State.

Anene Sewuese Catherine, the Benue state police public relations officer, spoke to VOA via phone.

“The team has moved but we’ve not heard from them,” Catherine said. “Investigation of kidnap is classified, we don’t [share] details or until there’s success. There’s no update for now.”

The abduction sparked widespread condemnation over insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, where authorities have struggled for several years to control violence from armed gangs locally referred to as “bandits.”

Over the weekend, the national police ordered the deployment of helicopters, drones and specialized tactical teams to aid in the search for the medical students. 

The Nigerian Medical Students Association said the abductors, using the students’ phones, issued a demand of about $31,400 to release the entire group.

The association has been urging authorities to secure the release of the students unharmed.

The association’s national president, Moses Onwubuya, said students are threatening to protest if their colleagues are not released soon.

“The only response we’ve been getting is that we should just calm down, that security agencies are in the matter,” Onwubuya said. “Calls have been going out through the phone numbers of our abducted colleagues. Students are agitating, we’re only trying to see if we can abide by the security guidelines, but I can’t guarantee what will happen any moment from now.”

According to Center for Democracy and Development — West Africa, Nigeria recorded more than 4,000 abductions in 2023, accounting for 58 percent of the total cases in West Africa and the highest in five years.

Security analysts say a severe economic crisis in Nigeria is pushing more people toward crime and kidnapping for ransom. 

Nigerian authorities have pledged to address economic problems along with security challenges. Meanwhile, families of victims are hoping their loved ones return to them safely.
…

your ad here

Final report on Lewiston mass shooting to be released

Posted on by SeeUS

LEWISTON, Maine — After more than a dozen public meetings, scores of witnesses and thousands of pages of evidence, a special commission created to investigate the deadliest shooting in Maine history is ready to issue its final report on Tuesday.

The independent commission began its work a month after the Oct. 25 mass shooting by an Army reservist that killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar and grill in Lewiston. Over nine months, there has been emotional testimony from family members and survivors of the shooting, law enforcement officials and U.S. Army Reserves personnel, and others.

The commission created by Gov. Janet Mills will hold a news conference to release the full report at Lewiston City Hall — less than 5 kilometers from the two sites where the shootings took place.

It’s unclear if the report will contain any surprises. An interim report released in March said law enforcement should have seized the shooter’s guns and put him in protective custody weeks before the shootings.

The commission’s public hearings revealed the swift response by police to the shootings, but also the ensuing chaos during the massive search for the gunman. Also revealed were missed opportunities to stop the shooter, 40-year-old Robert Card, an Army Reservist whose mental health was spiraling.

Card’s sister testified at a hearing, her hand resting on his military helmet as she spoke.

Kathleen Walker, whose husband Jason was killed while rushing at Card to try to stop him, also testified, and said: “The system failed, and we can’t allow this to happen again.”

Family members and fellow reservists said Card had exhibited delusional and paranoid behavior months before the shootings. He was hospitalized by the Army during training in July 2023, but a commanding officer acknowledged not checking to ensure compliance on follow-up care.

The starkest warning came in September when a fellow reservist texted an Army supervisor, saying, “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.” Card was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a search that followed the shootings.

Army officials conducted their own investigation after the shootings that Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, then the chief of the Army Reserves, said found “a series of failures by unit leadership.” Three Army Reserve officers were disciplined for dereliction of duty, according to the report, which noted communication failures within the chain of command and between military and civilian hospitals.

Maine’s legislature passed new guns laws for the state, which has a tradition of firearms ownership, in the wake of the shootings. A three-day waiting period for gun purchases went into effect earlier this month.

The Lewiston commission is chaired by Daniel Wathen, a former chief justice of Maine’s highest court. The seven-member commission also included two former federal prosecutors, two additional former judges, a psychiatrist and executive at a psychiatric hospital, and the state’s former chief forensic psychologist.
…

your ad here

‘We’re going nowhere’ – Thai opposition figure says court interventions must stop

Posted on by SeeEA

Bangkok — Politicians in Thailand must reform the judiciary to prevent interventions that have the country “going around in circles,” a recently banned opposition figurehead said, after two big rulings that dissolved his party and dismissed a prime minister.

Pita Limjaroenrat, whose now defunct Move Forward Party was blocked from forming a government last year, said a 10-year political ban would not weaken his resolve to lead Thailand and start major reforms, including stopping independent institutions from being politicized.

Thailand has been trapped in a tumultuous two-decade cycle of coups and court rulings that have toppled multiple governments, as part of a power struggle between popularly elected parties and an influential establishment with powerful connections in the military and key institutions.

“It’s back to square one and nothing has been achieved for the people,” Pita told Reuters, reflecting on upheaval that saw Move Forward dissolved and Srettha Thavisin dismissed as premier in the space of a week, both by the same court.

“We confuse movement with progress,” he said. “It’s almost like we’re going around in circles and we’re thinking we’re going somewhere but actually we’re going nowhere.”

His remarks came as 134 Thai academics and legal experts in a statement criticized the court, which they said overstepped its jurisdiction and damaged the public’s trust in legal and democratic systems.

Pita will return to Harvard University as a democracy fellow following his ban over his party’s plan to amend a law that punishes royal insults with up to 15 years in jail, a campaign the court said undermined Thailand’s constitutional monarchy.

His predicament provides a snapshot of Thailand’s cutthroat politics, with Pita hugely popular yet forced onto the sidelines, despite leading Move Forward to a surprise election victory that gave a ringing public endorsement of its progressive, anti-establishment platform.

Pita, 43, has polled consistently as the most preferred prime minister choice in Thailand, long after army-appointed senators thwarted his bid to become premier.

He and 43 colleagues could be subject of another pending case over the campaign on the lese-majeste law and face lifetime political bans by the anti-corruption commission, which has a remit that goes beyond graft cases.

He said the issue shows elected politicians need to reform institutions such as the commission and courts to guarantee their independence and accountability to the public.

“Penalize someone because of differing ethical standards or morality standards – that’s a bit too much for our democracy,” he said.

Though the two verdicts shook Thai politics and sparked concerns about the outlook for its stagnating economy, the status quo remains after casualties of both cases quickly regrouped within two days of the decisions.

Move Forward formed a new vehicle, the People’s Party, while the Pheu Thai Party-led coalition rallied behind Srettha’s replacement, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who won the overwhelming backing of parliament on Friday and was endorsed by the king on Sunday.

Paetongtarn is daughter of divisive political heavyweight and billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, whose populist parties have been worst hit by Thailand’s tumult. He is indicted for an alleged royal insult, though his lawyer on Monday said witness testimony will not start until July 2025.

Pita is planning a memoir of his roller-coaster ride and to give speeches and seminars on Southeast Asian affairs, hoping to return to politics stronger.

“I’ll be waiting for my time, you know I still very much want to bring about change in Thailand,” he said.

“I’ll be accumulating knowledge and experiences so when I return to be the leader of the country, I’ll be a better person then.”
…

your ad here

Philippines says China coast guard actions hinder confidence-building

Posted on by SeeEA

Manila — The Philippines on Tuesday said China’s coast guard was not helping efforts to build confidence in the South China Sea, after accusing it of ramming and damaging its vessels in the latest in a succession of altercations.

The Philippines urged China to refrain from aggressive actions and adhere to international law, said Alexander Lopez, a spokesperson for the country’s maritime council, an inter-ministerial body that formulates policy on the South China Sea.

The latest incident took place near the Sabina Shoal, as the Philippines conducted a resupply mission to two islands it occupies in the Spratly chain, parts of which are also contested by China, Vietnam and Malaysia.

China has challenged Manila’s account and said the Philippine coast guard acted in an “unprofessional and dangerous” manner.

Lopez at a briefing at the presidential palace said the council expressed “serious concern over the deliberate harassment and infringement by China” on the Philippines sovereignty and sovereign rights in the South China Sea.

China’s actions have drawn condemnation from treaty ally, the United States which described them as “dangerous” and “reckless,” while Japan through its embassy in Manila also expressed serious concern while reiterating its call for peaceful settlement of disputes.

China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, deploying an armada of coast guard vessels to protect what it considers its territory, hundreds of kilometers off its mainland. An international arbitral tribunal has said Beijing’s claim has no basis under international law.

The Philippines has been testing China’s resolve with increased coast guard activity in disputed areas of its exclusive economic zone, including resupply missions that have angered China, which sees the moves as deliberate provocations.
…

your ad here

Firefighters significantly tame California’s fourth-largest wildfire on record

Posted on by SeeUS

CHICO, Calif. — California’s largest wildfire this year has been significantly tamed as the state’s initially fierce fire season has, at least temporarily, fallen into a relative calm.

The Park Fire was 53% contained Monday after scorching nearly 1,738 square kilometers in several northern counties, destroying 637 structures and damaging 49 as it became the state’s fourth-largest wildfire on record.

A large portion of the fire area has been in mop-up stages, which involves extinguishing smoldering material along containment lines, and residents of evacuated areas are returning home. Timber in its northeast corner continues to burn.

The fire is burning islands of vegetation within containment lines, the Cal Fire situation summary said.

The Park Fire was allegedly started by arson on July 24 in a wilderness park outside the Central Valley city of Chico. It spread northward with astonishing speed in withering conditions as it climbed the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.

July was marked by extraordinary heat in most of California, where back-to-back wet winters left the state flush with grasses and vegetation that dried and became ready to burn. Wildfires erupted up and down the state.

The first half of August has been warmer than average but not record-breaking, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“We’re still seeing pretty regular ignitions and we’re still seeing significant fire activity, but the pace has slowed and the degree of that activity, the intensity, rates of initial spread, are not as high as they were,” he said in an online briefing Friday.

“Nonetheless, vegetation remains drier than average in most places in California and will likely remain so nearly everywhere in California for the foreseeable future,” he said.

There are signs of a return of high heat in parts of the West by late August and early September, Swain said.

“I would expect to see another resurgence in wildfire activity then across a broad swath of the West, including California,” he said.
…

your ad here

Jury hears ex-politician on trial for murder amassed photos, ID records about slain Vegas reporter

Posted on by SeeUS

Las Vegas — Hundreds of photos of a slain investigative journalist’s home and neighborhood were found on the cellphone and computer of a local Democratic politician accused of “lying in wait” and killing the reporter, who had written several articles critical of the official, a Nevada jury was told Monday.

Other photos taken from Robert Telles’ devices included an image of a single gray athletic shoe with a distinctive black pattern and a shot of Telles’ work computer at the Clark County Public Administrator and Guardian office with results of internet searches through a password-protected site that retrieved slain reporter Jeff German’s name, home address, vehicle registration and date of birth.

Prosecutor Christopher Hamner noted for jurors that photo was taken Aug. 23, 2022 — less than two weeks before German was slashed and stabbed to death in a side yard of his home.

“This image came out of Mr. Telles’ phone?” Hamner asked Matthew Hovanec, a Las Vegas digital forensics supervisor who testified Monday about “extracting” the data from Telles’ devices.

“It did,” Hovanec responded.

Detective Justine Gatus, the primary Las Vegas police homicide investigator of German’s death, was the main — and final — witness called Monday as prosecutors rested their case after four days of testimony from more than two dozen witnesses.

Telles has pleaded not guilty to murder and faces the possibility of life in prison if the jury finds him guilty. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

Telles insists he didn’t kill German and was framed for the crime. He intends to testify, defense lawyer Robert Draskovich said Monday, and is expected to take the witness stand to cap his own defense case, possibly Tuesday afternoon.

Gatus cited Las Vegas Review-Journal articles about Telles and the county office that German wrote, published in May and June 2022, about a county office in turmoil.

“They weren’t flattering,” the detective observed.

Social media posts by Telles at the same time derided German and the articles as false depictions of his efforts to fight corruption amid a political and social “old guard” real estate network.

Gatus testified that the gray sneaker with a Nike logo and four black marks on the sole was “identical” to one jurors saw earlier in neighbors’ security camera images of a figure wearing orange who slipped into a side yard of German’s home where German was later found dead on Labor Day weekend 2022.

Neither an orange shirt nor a murder weapon was entered as evidence in the case. But one of those shoes, cut to pieces and bearing spots of blood from an unidentified source, was found in plastic shopping bag in Telles’ home following his arrest.

German’s killing in September 2022, at age 69, made him the only reporter killed in the U.S. among 69 news media workers killed worldwide that year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. German spent 44 years covering Las Vegas mobsters and public officials at the Las Vegas Sun and then at the rival Review-Journal.

About 10 of his family members and friends have attended each day of Telles’ trial but have not spoken publicly about the killing. They declined as a group on Monday to comment.

Jurors last week heard from forensic scientists who said Telles’ DNA was found beneath German’s fingernails and saw security video of the suspect driving through German’s neighborhood.
…

your ad here