Month: August 2024

Philippine court orders corporate regulator to restore media firm’s license

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MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine court has ordered the country’s corporate regulator to restore the license of Rappler, a media firm led by Nobel laureate Maria Ressa who reported on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs.

The Court of Appeals, in a decision dated July 23 that was seen by Reuters on Friday, had voided orders and decisions of the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to shut down the online news site.

The Securities and Exchange Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The SEC in 2018 rescinded the operating license of Rappler for violating foreign equity restrictions on domestic media when it sold depositary rights to a foreign entity. The decision was upheld in 2022.

The appellate court said the SEC “acted with grave abuse of discretion” in revoking Rappler’s certificate of incorporation.

Rappler had previously argued the Omidyar Network, the philanthropic arm of EBay founder Pierre Omidyar, was a silent investor. Omidyar cut ties by donating the depository receipts to Rappler’s staff.

Rappler was founded by Ressa, won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize along with Russian investigative journalist Dmitry Muratov in a decision widely seen as an endorsement of free speech rights that had come under fire worldwide.

Ressa is currently on bail after being convicted in 2020 in a cyber libel case. She has appealed the decision to the country’s top court. 
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Huge California wildfire chews through timber in very hot and dry weather

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CHICO, California — California’s largest wildfire so far this year continued to grow Thursday as it chewed through timber in very hot and dry weather.

The Park Fire has scorched more than 1,709 square kilometers since erupting July 24 near the Sacramento Valley city of Chico and burning northward up the western flank of the Sierra Nevada. Containment remained at 34%, Cal Fire said.

The conflagration’s early explosive growth quickly made it California’s fourth-largest wildfire on record before favorable weather reduced its intensity late last week. It reawakened this week due to the heat and very low relative humidity levels.

A large portion of the burned area was in mop-up stage but spot fires were a continuing problem, officials said during Thursday morning’s operational briefing.

The fire’s northeast corner was the top firefighting priority, operations deputy Jed Gaines said.

“It’s not time to celebrate,” he said. “We got several more days of hard work to hold what we got in there.”

The latest Park Fire assessments found 636 structures destroyed and 49 damaged. A local man was arrested after authorities alleged he started the fire by pushing a burning car into a gully in a wilderness park outside Chico.

About 160 kilometers to the south, a new forest fire in El Dorado County was exhibiting extreme behavior, and some Park Fire aircraft were being diverted there.

The Crozier Fire, about 16 kilometers north of Placerville, had burned more than 5.17 square kilometers of timber and chaparral as of Thursday evening and was just 5% contained. The fire threatens 1,625 structures, according to Cal Fire.
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Giant panda habitat opens at California zoo to much fanfare 

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san diego, california — Two Chinese giant pandas are now California residents as their enclosure at the San Diego Zoo opened to the public on Thursday in an international ceremony. 

The pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, are the first to enter the United States in 21 years and were welcomed by California Governor Gavin Newsom and the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng.  

Yun Chuan, a 5-year-old male, is easily recognized by his long, slightly pointed nose, while Xin Bao is a 4-year-old female with big fluffy ears whose name means a “precious treasure of prosperity and abundance.” 

Yun Chuan’s name means “big river of cloud.” His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007. 

The zoo is working closely with Chinese experts to help with the adaptation period and understanding of the needs of the two pandas. The pair are enjoying a variety of fresh bamboo and a local adaptation of “wotou,” a traditional Chinese steamed cornbread that’s also called “panda bread.” 

“The arrival of Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, as we celebrate the 45th anniversary of our diplomatic ties, has sent a clear and important message,” said Xie.  

“China-U.S. cooperation on panda conservation will not cease. Our people-to- people exchanges and subnational cooperation will not stop, and once opened, the door of China-U.S. friendship will not be shut again,” he added. 

Newsom said the new pandas were about “celebrating our common humanity. It’s about celebrating the things that bind us together.” 

“And so, for me, this spirit of pride that is associated with this opening today with the experience that so many will have, that we just had at Panda Ridge, is about a deeper meaning,” Newsom added. 

Visitors of all ages to Panda Ridge on Thursday were exuberant about the pandas’ cuteness. 

“I have never seen a panda before. I’ve only seen them on TV and nature documentaries,” said Kobi Davis from Michigan. “They are super cute. They just kind of laze around, you know. There’s charm in that.”  

Keena Butcher from Canada called them “quiet, thoughtful creatures, and just realize we can have hope for our future if we can conserve them.”  

China’s Communist government has long used “panda diplomacy” to enhance the country’s soft power, lending the large but cuddly looking black-and-white bears to zoos in various countries over the decades as goodwill animal ambassadors. 

In late 2023, Washington’s National Zoo said goodbye to its beloved giant pandas, which were returned to China amid heightened tensions between the two global superpowers. 

In May this year, the National Zoo said China would send two young pandas to Washington by the end of the year.  
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Germany’s membership in UN Command signals commitment to Indo-Pacific    

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washington — Germany’s entry into the U.S.-led U.N. Command, which expanded the multinational body tasked with defending South Korea against North Korea, reflects growing fears in Europe and the U.S. that multiple wars that could break out simultaneously across the globe, said analysts.

North Korea this week denounced Germany’s membership in the U.N. Command (UNC), calling the expansion an attempt by the U.S. to create an Asian version of NATO, according to state-run KCNA.

The move will “inevitably aggravate the military and political situation on the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the region,” KCNA said Tuesday.

Pushing back against Pyongyang’s criticism, the German Federal Foreign Office told VOA Korean in a statement on Tuesday that by joining UNC, it is “sending a signal for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and strengthen[ing] our commitment in the Indo-Pacific.”

The statement continued, “Just as others are there for us, we are there for others when they need us.”

Germany joined UNC on August 2, becoming the 18th member of the body charged with maintaining the armistice on the Korean Peninsula during peacetime. In the event of war, the UNC would coordinate the movement of troops and weapons from its members to the Combined Forces Command of the U.S. and South Korea. 

Enhanced deterrence

Markus Garlauskas, who served as the U.S. national intelligence officer for North Korea from 2014 to 2020, said the UNC’s main role is to defend South Korea but that “expanding the number of countries contributing to UNC helps enhance deterrence … of the escalation of aggression in the entire region.”

This is particularly important because a conflict on the Korean Peninsula could escalate into a conflict with China, said Garlauskas, director of the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

The U.S. maintains several military bases and approximately 28,500 troops in South Korea.

But with wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza and the threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, analysts said the addition of new members to the UNC makes it easier for the United States to respond to crises elsewhere without having to send additional forces that may be needed to defend South Korea if the North attacks.

“The U.S. military is not large enough to fight multiple contingencies around the world” by itself, said David Maxwell, vice president of the Center for Asia Pacific Strategy.

The U.S. Commission on the National Defense Strategy released a report in July saying the U.S. must prepare to deal with simultaneous conflicts coordinated by China and Russia and involving countries such as North Korea and Iran, amounting to a “global war.”

Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, said, “The more forces that are available to potentially assist South Korea, the better it is for the U.S. if conflict occurs in both Taiwan and in Korea.”

By joining the UNC, “Germany is hoping South Korea will also become more supportive of the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression” by sending ammunition and other weapons, Bennett said.

South Korea has withheld sending lethal weapons directly to Ukraine while providing nonlethal weapons.

Germany’s membership in UNC follows a NATO summit last month in Washington where the alliance agreed to cooperate closely on security with the Indo-Pacific countries of South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Germany’s participation in UNC demonstrates “a tangible step” toward that defense cooperation, Garlauskas said. He noted that Pyongyang’s and Beijing’s support of Russia’s war against Ukraine “directly threatens Germany security.”

Germany, along with other NATO member states, has been arming Ukraine so it can defend against Russia, which has been threatening NATO with nuclear strikes. The U.S. and its NATO allies have condemned China for supporting Russia’s defense industry and North Korea for sending munitions to aid its war in Ukraine.

James Przystup, senior fellow and Japan chair specializing in alliance management in the Indo-Pacific at the Hudson Institute, said Germany, the U.K., France, the Netherlands and the EU “have all released Indo-Pacific strategy that recognizes that stability in the region is critical to Europe’s own prosperity.”

Those countries have also expressed their commitment to supporting a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific, he said. “But this is far from the emergence of an Indo-Pacific NATO.”
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Report: Discrimination drives gender inequality in Africa 

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nairobi, kenya — Despite progress in policy and legislation intended to end gender inequality in most African countries, the continent is still far from achieving gender equality, according to recent research by the polling organization Gallup.

A Gallup report, Gender Power in Africa, examined gender equality in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It found women still face discrimination.

“There are a number of factors at play, including social expectations that are placed on women in these countries, and those remain barriers to participation in education and the labor market,” said Julie Ray, managing editor for world news at Gallup.

Wanjiru Gikonyo, a governance expert in Nairobi, said the inequalities are rooted in social and cultural norms and traditions that can be traced to the colonial era.

“Yes, women and girls still lag behind male counterparts in this regard,” she said. “Our traditional, cultural societal structures were disrupted during the colonial period, which was a period of a very coercive use of force. And that really accentuated the marginalization that has then been imprinted into our post-colonial governments. And this marginalization then shows itself as inequality.”

Wanjiru said most constitutions in Africa have provisions for gender equality, but adherence remains a challenge. 

“When it comes to power, we’re very patrimonial,” she said. “So we are still dealing with a lot of patrimonialism that is very undemocratic and allows a lot of undemocratic practices to continue, and a lot of injustice to go unspoken.”

Gallup’s Ray said the imbalances act as barriers to social and economic development of women, which affects Africa’s overall development.

“Generally, access to education and participation in the labor market still remains limited compared to men,” she said. “And more women participating in the workforce, more jobs, is of course a bonus for economic growth.”

The U.N. Development Program ranks sub-Saharan Africa as the worst-performing region in the Gender Inequality Index – a composite measure reflecting the disparity between women’s and men’s achievements in reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market. 

Ibbo Mandaza, a Zimbabwean author and governance analyst in Harare, said it would take time to change attitudes on the continent and attain gender balance. He urged women’s groups in Africa to keep leading the struggle for gender equality.

“Whatever achievements that have been made in gender equality are attributable to women movements across the continent,” Mandaza said. “That struggle should be intensified, and involve males in that struggle.”

Experts say Africa has made progress toward gender equality, but much work remains to be done to ensure that women have equal economic opportunities and are free from discrimination.
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Japan leads Central Asia summit amid rising tensions with Russia, China 

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washington — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s landmark three-day visit to Central Asia, beginning Friday, is poised to challenge the existing geopolitical balance in the region.

The Central Asia + Japan group will hold its inaugural summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, where Kishida, supported by a delegation of 50 Japanese business leaders, will unveil a strategic $2 billion economic support package.

During the August 9-12 trip, Kishida is also scheduled to visit Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

Japan’s foreign ministry said on X that the meeting marks the 20th anniversary of the Central Asia + Japan Dialogue, though it is the first such meeting at this level. “The friendships built over these last two decades will form the foundation for further cooperation & partnerships for decades to come,” the posting said.

Experts say that as Central Asia’s natural resources and its strategic roles in trade and security attract global interest, Japan is seeking to counter Russia’s and China’s dominance in the region with alternative models for trade and governance.

“The visit shows Japan’s desire somewhat to counter, or perhaps more realistically, to mitigate the historically closer economic engagement with Central Asian countries that Russia and China have had,” said Koichi Nakano, professor of political science at Sophia University in Japan.

“But it would seem unrealistic to think that Japan can quickly ‘flip’ them to its side by ditching their close ties with Russia and China in economic and security terms,” he told VOA.

In the five post-Soviet Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — China is the leading exporter, boosted by its Belt and Road Initiative and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Meanwhile, Russia exerts substantial influence through energy exports, labor migration and regional security, particularly via the Collective Security Treaty Organization and its military presence in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

China hosted a summit with Central Asian leaders in May 2023, followed by a high-level meeting organized by the European Union in June. The United States and Germany then held their own summit in September.

Japan has maintained diplomatic relations with Central Asian countries since their independence in the early 1990s. In August 2004, Japan established the regional framework called the Central Asia + Japan Dialogue. Subsequently, other countries, including the U.S., India and South Korea, have initiated similar diplomatic frameworks with the region.

Cautious alliances

According to Nakano, Central Asian countries are cautious about being dominated by Russia and China.

“But now that the tension between Japan, on the one hand, and Russia and China, on the other hand, is rising, there is a stronger reason for Japan to boost its ties with the Central Asian countries,” Nakano said.

Those tensions have escalated because of Japan’s support for Western sanctions against Russia and disputes over the Kuril Islands. Japan’s concerns about China’s military activities have also strained relations.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday issued a statement criticizing the Tokyo-led summit as “Japan’s attempts to penetrate Central Asia.”

“We have no doubt that our partners from Central Asia, with their wisdom, will be able to distinguish approaches in favor of mutually beneficial cooperation from plans to reduce their countries to the position of a neocolonial appendage of the Western camp,” she said in the statement.

“We hope that the destructiveness of such a prospect and the serious costs of losing full-blooded ties with Russia are quite obvious to them.” 

Domestic motives

Hiromoto Kaji, professor at Aichi University in Japan, said that while the new summit framework with Central Asia might seem like a foreign policy move, it is actually driven by Japan’s internal political factors.

“The new cooperation framework that Prime Minister Kishida has now proposed does not fundamentally change the policy objectives. Rather, Prime Minister Kishida may be seeking to establish ‘a diplomatic legacy’ in preparation for the upcoming LDP [Liberal Democratic Party] presidential election,” Kaji told VOA.

Kishida’s LDP will hold elections in September to choose its next party president.

Tsuyoshi Nojima, a professor at Daito Bunka University in Japan, said Japan enjoys a higher level of goodwill in Central Asia and the Middle East than the United States.

“In Asia, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia are all competing for influence — one in Southeast Asia and one in Central Asia. Japan is effectively helping the U.S. manage relationships with Central Asian countries,” Nojima told VOA.

Democratic engagement

Anders Corr, publisher of the Journal of Political Risk, says Japan’s summit in Central Asia is a positive development that could introduce greater democratic influence in the region.

“The summit is focused on bringing Japanese diplomacy and businesses to the region, which will assist in democratic influence efforts through economic incentives,” Corr told VOA.

Corr also said democracies will need to solidify any gains in the region through a combination of business incentives and sanctions aimed at addressing authoritarianism and human rights abuses.

“Such incentives and disincentives can only be reliably based upon the economic and military strength and unity of the democracies more broadly as they face off against increasingly belligerent autocracies, including Iran, that surround Central Asia,” Corr said. 

After more than 30 years of independence, citizens in Central Asian countries at varying levels continue to face restrictions on press freedom, civil liberties and political rights as they endure authoritarian practices.

Chung-Hsi Tu of VOA Mandarin contributed to this report. 
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Five arrested over attack that wounded US troops in Iraq air base, statement says

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CAIRO — Security forces have arrested five people in connection with an attack this week at a military base in Iraq in which five U.S. troops and two U.S. contractors were wounded, Iraqi officials said on Thursday. 

The arrests were announced by the Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information. 

“After in-depth legal investigations and listening to witnesses’ statements … five of those involved in this illegal act were arrested,” the Security Media Cell added in a statement. 

In Monday’s attack, two Katyusha rockets were fired at Ain al-Asad air base in the west of the country. On Tuesday, Iraq’s military condemned what it called “reckless” actions against bases on its soil and said it had captured a truck with a rocket launcher. 

The attack came as the Middle East braced for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. 

It was unclear whether the incident in Iraq was linked to threats by Iran to retaliate over the killing in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. 

Iraq is a rare ally of both the U.S. and Iran. It hosts 2,500 U.S. troops and has Iran-backed militias linked to its security forces. It has witnessed escalating tit-for-tat attacks since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza in October. 

Iraq wants troops from the U.S.-led military coalition to begin withdrawing in September and to formally end the coalition’s work by September 2025, Iraqi sources have said, with some U.S. forces likely to remain in a newly negotiated advisory capacity.
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Zimbabwe’s leader rules out extending presidency terms

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Harare — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa says he is not extending his presidency beyond the current two five-year terms allowed by the country’s constitution. There are some who have expressed skepticism about his stated commitment to the constitution.

Chants by members of the ruling ZANU-PF party echoed in the air as those gathered at party headquarters awaited the arrival of President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. They said Mnangagwa will still be in power in 2030 — two years after what the constitution allows him. The slogans were repeated as Mnangagwa arrived and addressed the crowd.

“Besides being a soldier, trained lawyer, I am a constitutionalist. I want our party, our leadership, our people to be constitutionalists. We must abide by the provisions of our constitution to the letter,” said Mnangagwa.

In his native language, Shona, Mnangagwa added, “When time comes to go home, I will go! Let’s follow the principles of the party,” gaining more cheers.

After ruling for nearly 40 years, the late Robert Mugabe was removed from power with help from the army and succeeded by Mnangagwa, who became interim president in November 2017. Mnangagwa won a disputed election in 2018.

Kudzai Mutisi, a pro-ZANU-PF political commentator, said he believes Mnangagwa will not be like Mugabe.

“What is important here is that he is addressing some of the people who have been lobbying him to stay beyond 2028. So whatever people have been saying or whatever people have been thinking has nothing really to do with him, it is what they, as lobbyists, they as commenters have been brewing their heads and voicing out, but what we heard is the president’s voice, the president’s position and that’s what we should respect and stick to as we go forward,” he said.

Some Zimbabweans fear Mnangagwa may change the constitution to seek a third term. This concern comes after the Constitutional Court in 2021 overturned the high court, allowing current Chief Justice Luke Malaba to remain on the job until age 75, instead of being forced to retire at age 70.

Brighton Mutebuka, a lawyer opposed to the views of the ruling party, said he still believes Mnangagwa — also known as ED from the initials of his first and middle names — will change the constitution so that he stands for a third term in 2028.

“By coming out publicly to claim otherwise, ED is trying to hoodwink the gullible in his party, the other faction and also SADC. … And mind you, he has previously himself come out publicly and corralled his Cabinet ministers into pledging loyalty to this 2030 slogan, in Chikomba district,” said Mutebuka.

SADC refers to the Southern African Development Community — a 13-nation bloc that looks at how members are abiding by their constitutions.

An SADC observer mission looking into Zimbabwe’s August 2023 elections said the polls failed to meet the bloc’s standards. Mnangagwa’s party criticized the team that compiled the report. Zimbabwe will take over the 12-month rotating chair of the SADC following a meeting next week.
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UN sees rising threat of IS-Khorasan attacks outside Afghanistan

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New York — The head of the United Nations counterterrorism office warned Thursday that there is a risk of the Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate IS-Khorasan carrying out attacks abroad.

“ISIL-K has improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months, including by tapping into Afghan and Central Asian diasporas for support,” Vladimir Voronkov said, referring to the terror organization by an acronym. “The group has also intensified its recruitment efforts.”

He told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the threat of terrorism that the activity of the self-styled Islamic State and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan “remains a significant concern.”

“We must unite to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a hotbed of terrorism,” Voronkov said, urging Afghanistan’s neighbors to counter and prevent the threat from IS-K from spreading.

The United Nations secretary-general said in a July 31 report that the threat from IS and its affiliates “remained high, with the group and affiliates continuing to demonstrate resilience and adaptability despite sustained counter-terrorism efforts.”

The report said following IS’s claimed deadly attacks at a memorial service in Iran on January 3 and at a concert hall in Moscow on March 22, Islamic State’s core “has reportedly directed operatives from Afghanistan and neighboring countries to undertake attacks abroad.”

Afghanistan’s de facto-ruling Taliban claim their security forces have eliminated IS-Khorasan bases in the country and degraded the group’s ability to threaten national security and that of the region.

Voronkov also warned that parts of Africa remain a hotbed of Islamic State activity, which is fueling instability, especially in West Africa and the Sahel. He said two IS regional affiliates — Islamic State West Africa Province and Islamic State in the Greater Sahel — have expanded and consolidated their areas of operations.

“Should these groups extend their influence in northern littoral states, a vast territory stretching from Mali to northern Nigeria could fall under their effective control,” Voronkov warned.

He said they also present a threat in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Mozambique and Somalia.

“Elsewhere, the threat posed by ISIL-K resulted in heightened threat levels in Europe,” Voronkov said. “The group is considered the greatest external terrorist threat to the continent.”

Authorities in the Austrian capital, Vienna, announced Wednesday that they had foiled a plot by a 19-year-old, who had sworn loyalty to IS’s leader online, to carry out an attack at a concert this week by U.S. pop superstar Taylor Swift.

Two other Austrian youths, ages 17 and 15, were also detained. Organizers have canceled the three sold-out Vienna concerts out of caution, disappointing nearly 200,000 fans, many of whom traveled from abroad to attend the show.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
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After recent challenges, US looks to rethink AFRICOM, aid initiatives

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WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday completed one of the last major troop departures from Niger ahead of the military junta-imposed September 15 deadline. About 1,000 troops were stationed in Niger before the ruling leadership’s order to leave.

A joint statement from the Nigerien Defense Ministry and the U.S. military said personnel and equipment from the base had been withdrawn and coordination would continue over the coming weeks to make sure the pullout is complete.

“The effective cooperation and communication between the U.S. and Nigerien armed forces ensured that this turnover was completed ahead of schedule and without complications.”

In an interview with VOA’s Anthony LaBruto, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, details how the United States is reevaluating its military presence in light of the troop departures as well as recent challenges to its broader security initiatives on the continent.

The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: What role does the United States Africa Command, or AFRICOM, play in the continent? In what capacity do AFRICOM’s teams serve in different countries in Africa and how is it helping to stabilize democracy?

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul: I just met with AFRICOM. I had a briefing from them. So, this is a very timely interview. They’re primarily military. That’s why in 2019, I introduced the Global Fragility Act. … And to your point, it forces [AFRICOM] to go beyond just being a military organization. It forces them to coordinate with states and with the United States Agency for International Development together on the African continent, and that’s very helpful if they’re working together rather than independently with their own missions. When I was at AFRICOM, they talked about it a lot, how that bill has really changed the way they operate.

VOA: I noticed that when the head of Africa Command testified before your committee, he mentioned that military presence in Africa should go alongside diplomatic and aid efforts on the continent. Can you elaborate on how these different elements are coordinated and their overall impact on the region?

McCaul: Look, the military is important. But that’s not going to win this alone, right? I mean, when you have economic ties, they strengthen our alliances and that’s where I think the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation can be helpful.

And then of course USAID, you know, we provide our humanitarian assistance. I passed the branding bill, which requires the American flag to be on this, so that they know where the aid is coming from, because prior to that, they didn’t know where it’s coming from. Now, if China brings in the [diplomatic] systems, their flags are everywhere and so now USAID has the American flag. They know where it’s coming from. That really helps in diplomacy.

I would also throw trade in there. If we could get back to having some trade agreements, which we haven’t done, quite frankly, under this administration. Of course, the military we need. They provide the security umbrella to provide the soft power — that being diplomatic and economic assistance.

VOA: What are the U.S. military’s strategies for countering threats in countries like Somalia and Kenya, and how do these efforts support and integrate with aid projects in the region?

McCaul: We have counterterrorism operations — that’s where AFRICOM comes in — but they’re overstretched and overburdened. Their role in coordinating with the State Department and USAID is to provide that security piece. … But when you have Niger kicking us out, there’s nothing we can do. We can’t operate within countries.

You look at Somalia, I mean our presence there is … quite frankly, that embassy is so dangerous you can’t even drive to it, you have to fly in. That’s probably the most dangerous embassy in the world right now. And now, with the events of the Houthi rebels joining forces with al-Shabab, it’s even worse. I really worry about that embassy. … They have a lot of security there, and it’s probably the most secure embassy in the world, but still. I mean, what good is that presence if you can’t really operate out of the country?

VOA: With the military or AFRICOM being challenged so much, is the U.S. rethinking any of its military or aid policies on the continent?

McCaul: They are [being challenged], and it’s a resource issue; it’s a big continent. There’s not much we can do if the country doesn’t want us there. They kicked the French out of Mali, in the Sahel regions, they’re gone.

They have this anti-colonialism attitude that goes back to the French, and I understand that, and they probably look at us [similarly] in some respects. We want them to look at us as a liberator, not an occupier, but they do have a sense of, ‘Oh, the colonials are coming back in,’ certainly with the French, probably less so with the Americans, but we still have that issue.

The AFRICOM General [Michael] Langley warned that the loss of U.S. bases in the Sahel will “degrade our ability to do active watching and warning, including for the homeland defense.” Right now, the terrorist organizations in Africa are more focused on Africa and not external operations, but we always have to be mindful of that, that any of these terror operations can go operational, external operations, if that’s the direction they want to go. Right now, I’m not sure they have that capacity to conduct external operations necessarily over here, but it’s something we have to continue to watch.

This Q&A originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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UN troubled by Thailand’s opposition party ban

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Geneva — The United Nations on Thursday said the dissolution of Thailand’s main opposition Move Forward Party was “deeply troubling” and seriously affects fundamental freedoms.

The Constitutional Court, Thailand’s top court, voted unanimously on Wednesday to dissolve the MFP, the vanguard of the country’s youthful pro-democracy movement, and ban its executive board members from politics for 10 years.

“This decision seriously impacts fundamental freedoms of expression and association, and people’s right to participate in public affairs and political life in Thailand,” U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

“No party or politician should ever face such penalties for peacefully advocating legal reform, particularly in support of human rights,” he said.

The MFP took first place in a general election last year after pledging to reform Thailand’s strict royal defamation law.

Calling the court move “deeply troubling,” Turk said U.N. human rights mechanisms had long expressed concern about Thailand’s lese-majeste laws, saying they were inconsistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“I call on the government to find pathways to ensure a vibrant, strong and inclusive democracy that promotes and respects the rights to freedom of expression and association and end the use of lese-majeste laws to suppress critical voices,” said Turk.

“A diversity of voices and opinions is fundamental to ensuring respect and protection of human rights and achieving peaceful social and economic development,” he said.
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Plot to attack Taylor Swift show in Austria linked to Islamic State

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VIENNA, AUSTRIA — The 19-year-old Austrian who masterminded a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift fans at a concert in Vienna with a bomb or knife had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group, authorities said on Thursday.

The main suspect, who has North Macedonian roots, made a full confession in custody, Austria’s general director for public security, Franz Ruf, told a news conference.

He swore loyalty to the IS militant group’s leader on the internet and kept chemicals and technical devices at his home in the town of Ternitz in preparation for an attack, Ruf said.

The 19-year-old, whose name was not given, was planning an attack with an explosive or knife among the estimated 20,000 “Swiftie” fans set to gather outside the stadium, said national intelligence head Omar Haijawi-Pirchner.

“There is currently no information that other concerts are subject to an explicit threat,” he said at the news conference.

Two other Austrian youths, ages 17 and 15, were also detained Wednesday over the foiled plot.

Swift’s three concerts in Vienna, due to start on Thursday for a sold-out audience of 65,000 each, were canceled, to the consternation of fans, many of whom had traveled far.

“It’s just heartbreaking, just frustrating. But at the end of the day, I guess it’s for everyone’s safety,” said Mark del Rosario, who had flown from the Philippines for the show.

U.S. broadcaster ABC cited law enforcement and intelligence sources as saying Austrian authorities had received information about the Swift concert threat from U.S. intelligence.

It cited the sources as saying at least one of the suspects had pledged allegiance to ISIS-K, a resurgent wing of IS, on Telegram in June, although the plot was IS-inspired rather than directed by the group’s operatives.

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said foreign intelligence agencies helped with the investigation, as Austrian law does not allow monitoring of messenger apps.

Event organizer Live Nation urged fans of Coldplay, which is due to play at the same stadium on August 21, to stay calm and said it was in contact with authorities.

It did not comment on whether the show would take place.

British police said on Thursday there was nothing to indicate that the planned attack in Vienna would have an impact on her shows at Wembley Stadium in London next week.

Past attacks and plots

“Concerts are often a preferred target of Islamist attackers, large concerts,” said Karner, listing the 2015 attack on Paris’ Bataclan venue and the 2017 bombing at the Manchester Arena where U.S. pop star Ariana Grande had played.

The planned attack also recalled a foiled plot by three IS-linked suspects against Vienna’s gay pride parade last year.

Authorities have revamped their national security intelligence in the wake of a 2020 attack by a convicted jihadist in the center of Vienna that left four dead, the first such militant attack in the Austrian capital in a generation.

 

Swifties disappointed

The shows were to be part of the record-breaking Eras Tour by the American singer-songwriter, which started on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, and is set to conclude on Dec. 8, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada.

Swift, 34, has not yet commented on the cancellations on her official Instagram account, which has 283 million followers.

Her fans were horrified at the threat, with some begging organizers to postpone the concert instead of canceling it outright. Promoters have said they will pay back tickets.

“I can’t believe the concert i’ve been waiting for over 10 years is now gone. I don’t think i’ll ever get over this,” wrote one fan on social media.

“As disappointing as not being able to go to this concert is TRUST ME u do not want to experience that,” added another.

Some who had traveled from abroad for the concerts planned to do some sightseeing or hang with friends instead.

“We’ll check out some museums, maybe catch up with a few friends who reside here,” said del Rosario. “But apart from that, maybe look at Swiftie-organized events. To be with fellow fans, you know, share the same pain and just dance it out. As I believe Taylor Swift would want us to have fun.”

One group of local Swifties said they had received permission to still hold tour parties in coordination with local police.
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World’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas

Posted on by SeeUS

GEORGETOWN, Texas — As with any desktop 3D printer, the Vulcan printer pipes layer by layer to build an object – except this printer is more than 45 feet (13.7 m) wide, weighs 4.75 tons and prints residential homes.

This summer, the robotic printer from ICON is finishing the last few of 100 3D-printed houses in Wolf Ranch, a community in Georgetown, Texas, about 30 miles from Austin.

ICON began printing the walls of what it says is the world’s largest 3D-printed community in November 2022. Compared to traditional construction, the company says that 3D printing homes is faster, less expensive, requires fewer workers, and minimizes construction material waste.

“It brings a lot of efficiency to the trade market,” said ICON senior project manager Conner Jenkins. “So, where there were maybe five different crews coming in to build a wall system, we now have one crew and one robot.”

After concrete powder, water, sand and other additives are mixed together and pumped into the printer, a nozzle squeezes out the concrete mixture like toothpaste onto a brush, building up layer by layer along a pre-programmed path that creates corduroy-effect walls.

The single-story three- to four-bedroom homes take about three weeks to finish printing, with the foundation and metal roofs installed traditionally.

Jenkins said the concrete walls are designed to be resistant to water, mold, termites and extreme weather.

Lawrence Nourzad, a 32-year-old business development director, and his girlfriend Angela Hontas, a 29-year-old creative strategist, purchased a Wolf Ranch home earlier this summer.

“It feels like a fortress,” Nourzad said, adding that he was confident it would be resilient to most tornados.

The walls also provide strong insulation from the Texas heat, the couple said, keeping the interior temperature cool even when the air conditioner wasn’t on full blast.

There was one other thing the 3D-printed walls seemed to protect against, however: a solid wireless internet connection.

“Obviously these are really strong, thick walls. And that’s what provides a lot of value for us as homeowners and keeps this thing really well-insulated in a Texas summer, but signal doesn’t transfer through these walls very well,” Nourzad said.

To alleviate this issue, an ICON spokeswoman said most Wolf Ranch homeowners use mesh internet routers, which broadcast a signal from multiple units placed throughout a home, versus a traditional router which sends a signal from one device.

The 3D-printed homes at Wolf Ranch, called the “Genesis Collection” by developers, range in price from around $450,000 to close to $600,000. Developers said a little more than one quarter of the 100 homes have been sold.

ICON, which 3D-printed its first home in Austin in 2018, hopes to one day take its technology to the Moon. NASA, as part of its Artemis Moon exploration program, has contracted ICON to develop a construction system capable of building landing pads, shelters, and other structures on the lunar surface.
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Chinese dissidents face renewed government imprisonment threats

Posted on by SeeEA

Taipei, Taiwan — China has been intensifying pressure on some prominent dissidents in recent weeks, as local prosecutors decide whether to impose jail sentences on human rights lawyer Lu Siwei, and police repeatedly threaten to arrest citizen journalist Zhang Zhan again.

Some human rights advocates say the renewed threats against Lu and Zhang are part of a broader campaign by the government to intensify crackdowns on activists and human rights lawyers.

“Beijing is trying to warn dissidents that if they try to defend the rule of law or freedom of expression, they could be arrested or imprisoned,” Bob Fu, founder of the Texas-based human rights organization ChinaAid, told VOA by phone.

Lu’s wife, Zhang Chunxiao, who now lives in the U.S., tells VOA that Chinese police in the southwestern province of Sichuan have imposed strict restrictions on her husband since he was released on bail in October, putting him under 24-hour surveillance and barring him from leaving the city of Chengdu without approval.

“The authorities have deployed eight to nine people to monitor him around the clock and he is followed by someone whether he is taking the metro or getting into a taxi,” she told VOA by phone.

Lu, a prominent human rights lawyer who has handled several high-profile cases, tried to flee China last year in July and reunite with his family in the United States by traveling through Southeast Asia last. Despite holding a valid U.S. visa and Chinese passport, he was arrested and detained by Laotian police and later deported back to China. 

Zhang said the constant surveillance has made Lu feel isolated and experience serious mood swings.

“Almost everyone around him, including his friends and family members, has cut off contact with him so he is in a very bad mental state,” Zhang added.

In addition to surveillance and restrictions on his movement, the police told Lu last month that Chengdu prosecutors were reviewing his case and would determine whether to charge him with a crime or not later.

While Zhang said she hopes there is a slim chance authorities would decide not to charge her husband with any crime and let him regain his basic rights and freedom, some analysts say there is a high probability that Lu could be found guilty and given a jail sentence.

“Since the conviction rate in China is more than 99%, I think Lu will likely be prosecuted for some crime,” Yaqiu Wang, research director for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan at Freedom House, told VOA by phone.

Fu in Texas said Lu’s experience is a typical case of China’s transnational repression, and that Beijing is preparing to prosecute him.

“His case shows that under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rule, even a peaceful human rights lawyer would be arrested in a foreign country for trying to reunite with his family in the United States,” he told VOA.  

In a written response, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing strictly abides by international law and fully respects the law enforcement sovereignty of other countries.

“There is no transnational repression,” Liu Pengyu, the embassy’s spokesperson, told VOA.

Forced family separation

While Lu faces the looming threat of prosecution in China, his family has also been forcibly separated since his wife and children moved to the U.S. in January 2022. Zhang said Lu’s detention and deportation back to China have pushed her to learn how to advocate for him, which is something that she wasn’t used to.

“I used to be a very quiet person living a simple life, but since his arrest last year, I had no choice but to start advocating for him,” she told VOA, adding that she has been doing it out of her instinct as a wife despite the work being difficult for her.

“My child is still young and my husband also needs my emotional support so I need to become stronger,” Zhang said.

Fu from ChinaAid said Zhang’s experience reflects a common situation that the family of other Chinese dissidents have to face.

“The pain that such forced separation brings to Chinese dissidents’ families is indescribable and it is a tragedy created by the Chinese government,” he told VOA.

Life-long threats from the Chinese government

While Lu awaits his fate, Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan has been receiving repeated threats of rearrest by the police since she was released from prison in May.

Zhang, who was sentenced to four years for covering the initial lockdown in Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic, shared in a post on the messaging app WeChat on June 9 that police in Shanghai warned her that if she again crosses certain “red lines,” she would be jailed again.

In another video she uploaded onto YouTube in July, Zhang said authorities had confiscated her passport, and that she remains aware of possibly being followed. 

Despite the recurring threats she faces, Zhang continues to advocate for the release of other Chinese dissidents who have been taken away by police in recent weeks. 

Wang at Freedom House said that as Zhang continues to advocate for freedom and the rule of law, she will likely keep facing harassment and intimidation from the police.

“Surveillance and threats of reimprisonment will always accompany her, likely for the rest of her life,” she told VOA. “These cases show that the cost of dissenting is not limited to the formal time these dissidents serve in prison.”

Wang adds that it also shows how threats to dissidents under Xi Jinping are increasing and are often “all-encompassing.” 
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Tropical Storm Debby makes 2nd landfall in South Carolina, heavy rain expected up the East Coast

Posted on by SeeUS

HUGER, S.C. — Tropical Storm Debby has made a second landfall in South Carolina on its way up the East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont could get several inches of rain this weekend.

The National Hurricane Center says Debby came ashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina. The storm is expected to keep moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding all the way up through the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast by the weekend.

Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It is now a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph (80 kph).

Considerable flooding is expected across parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Friday, with an additional 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 centimeters) of rain forecast, as well as in portions of Virginia, according to the hurricane center.

Days of rain have forced the deluge-hardened residents of a South Carolina community to begin the near-ritualistic task of assessing damage left behind by Debby, which continued spinning over the Atlantic Ocean and influencing thunderstorms from the East Coast to the Great Lakes on Wednesday. The National Weather Service’s office in Charleston also said survey teams confirmed four-Debby related tornadoes.

In Huger, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Charleston, Gene Taylor was waiting in the afternoon for a few inches of water to drain from his house along French Quarter Creek as high tide passed.

Taylor saw the potential for flooding last week and started moving belongings out or up higher in his home. It’s a lesson learned the hard way — Taylor estimated that this is the fourth time he has had floodwater in his home in the past nine years.

“To save everything, we’ve learned from the past it’s better be prepared for the worst. And unfortunately, I think we got it,” Taylor said.

A few doors down, Charles Grainger was cleaning up after about 8 inches (20 centimeters) of water got into his home.

“Eight inches disrupts your whole life,” Grainger said. “You don’t get used to it. You just grin and bear it. It’s part of living on the creek.”

In Georgia, at least four dams were breached northwest of Savannah in Bulloch County, but no deaths had been reported, authorities said at a briefing.

More than 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, director of emergency management, and about 100 roads were closed.

“We’ve been faced with a lot of things we’ve never been faced with before,” Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said. “I’m 78-plus years old and have never seen anything like this before in Bulloch County. It’s amazing what has happened, and amazing what is going to continue to happen until all these waters get out of here.”

For residents on Tappan Zee Drive in suburban Pooler, west of Savannah, Georgia, the drenching that Debby delivered came with a painful dose of déjà vu. In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew overflowed a nearby canal and flooded several of the same homes.

Located roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, with no creeks or rivers nearby, the neighborhood doesn’t seem like a high-risk location for tropical flooding. But residents say drainage problems have plagued their street for well over a decade, despite local government efforts to fix them.

Debby also dumped rain on communities all the way up to the Great Lakes and New York and New Jersey. Moisture from the tropical storm strengthened another system Tuesday evening, which caused strong thunderstorms, according to weather service meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.

“We had a multi-round period of showers and thunderstorms that kind of scooted from Michigan eastward,” Kleebauer said.

As much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of New Jersey in less than four hours.

Emergency officials in New York City warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some neighborhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. Multiple water rescues were reported in and near the city.

About 270,000 customers remained without power in Ohio as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, following severe storms including two confirmed tornadoes. Utility officials with FirstEnergy’s Illuminating Company said via social media that power restoration would take days due to the damage.

In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said his state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play, after more than 60 homes were damaged but roads and water systems were without significant problems.

The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as they flow to the Atlantic Ocean.

A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration that coordinates preparations without declaring an emergency.

At least six people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank.
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Yonhap: North Korean defects to South across maritime border

Posted on by SeeEA

Seoul — A North Korean has defected to the South across a de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Thursday.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s.

The latest defection comes as relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing and bombarding the South with trash-carrying balloons.

“1 N. Korean defects across maritime border in Yellow Sea: military,” the agency said in a one-line report.

Other South Korean local media reported Thursday that two North Koreans attempted to defect to the South through the border island of Gyodong, less than five kilometers from North Korea.

The South Korean military has only secured one of them, the reports said.

Most defectors go overland to neighboring China first, then enter a third country such as Thailand before finally making it to the South. 

The number of successful escapes dropped significantly from 2020 after the North sealed its borders — purportedly with shoot-on-sight orders along the land frontier with China — to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

But the number of defectors making it to the South almost tripled last year to 196, Seoul said in January, with more elite diplomats and students seeking to escape, up from 67 in 2022.

‘Unhappy with the North’s system’

The North Korean crossed the “neutral zone of the Han River estuary located west of the inter-Korean land border” and then arrived at South Korea’s Gyodong island, Yonhap reported Thursday, citing unnamed military sources.

South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik told a parliamentary committee that an investigation was “underway by the relevant authorities,” according to the Yonhap report.

The incident is the first time in 15 months since a North Korean defected to South Korea through the Yellow Sea.

In May 2023, a family of nine escaped the North using a wooden boat. 

Experts say defectors have likely been impacted by harsh living conditions, including food shortages and inadequate responses to natural disasters, while living in the isolated North.

“North Korea has suffered severe flood damage recently and has caused a lot of damage in other areas as well, including parts of the city,” Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Korean peninsula strategy at Sejong Institute, told AFP.

“It is possible that the people who were unhappy with the North Korean system may have used this internal instability and confusion to defect.”

Heavy rainfall hit the North’s northern regions in late July, with South Korean media reporting a possible death toll of up to 1,500 people.

Pyongyang treats defections as a serious crime and is believed to hand harsh punishments to transgressors, their families and even people tangentially linked to the incident.

South Korea has responded to the North’s increased weapons testing and trash-carrying ballon bombardments this year by resuming propaganda broadcasts along the border, suspending a tension-reducing military deal and restarting live-fire drills near the border.
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In deluge of protests, fuel subsidies prove hard to abolish

Posted on by SeeAF

london — Like thousands of Nigerians and millions of others across the developing world, higher fuel costs have irked Antonia Arosanwo.

“I am angry,” the 46-year-old mother of five said at a bus stop in Lagos, the teeming commercial capital of Africa’s most populous nation.

Her journey from Ojuelegba, a bustling suburb just 13 kilometers north of Lagos’s business district, has more than doubled in price to 700 naira (45 U.S. cents) since the government announced an end to fuel subsidies last year — allowing petrol prices to triple.

Arosanwo’s anger mirrored that of thousands of other Nigerians, whose nationwide protests last week demanding protection from rocketing inflation, spreading hunger and dwindling jobs rattled the government.

Nearly all had one core complaint: fuel prices.

Across Africa — and a string of other emerging market nations — debt-laden governments trying to shed costly fuel subsidies are running headlong into angry populations reeling from years of increasing living costs.

Egypt and Malaysia this year boosted prices to cut subsidy spending, while Bolivia’s President Luis Arce, who fended off an attempted coup in June, called this week for a referendum on fuel subsidies. The government expects gasoline and diesel subsidies to cost Bolivia some $2 billion this year.

Arce, like others, faces dollar shortages and a flagging economy.

“Difficult moments require firm, mature, thoughtful decisions and human beings who do not falter in the face of adversity, and this is precisely a moment of this nature,” Arce said in a speech in the Bolivian city of Sucre.

But the smoke of protests is clouding governments’ hopes of ending fuel subsidies, as the same stagnating economic growth that’s punching a hole in budgets is making life harder for citizens.

Leaders in Angola and Senegal are, like Nigeria, struggling to cut them.

“In a situation of cost-of-living crisis and high inflation, (more expensive fuel) becomes even unbearable,” said Bismarck Rewane, chief executive of the Financial Derivatives Co in Lagos and a government economics adviser.

Removing the subsidy, he said, must be phased in according to two principles — “One, what the government can afford (and) two, what the people can afford?”

Into the fire

Nearly every nation on earth has some form of energy subsidy, costs of which hit a record $7 trillion in 2022 — a whopping 7.1% of GDP — according to the International Monetary Fund.

Experts slam subsidies as blunt-force tools that give more to wealthy car owners than to the poor — and that they are prone to corruption and bad for the environment.

The biggest spenders, according to the International Energy Agency, are Russia, Iran, China and Saudi Arabia — countries that can, broadly, afford the costs.

But for emerging countries, saddled with costly debt and still-high global interest rates, financing these is more punishing.

“It’s acute now, because countries have fiscal problems,” said Chris Celio, senior economist and strategist with ProMeritum Investment Management. “And so then the question is, why do you have fiscal problems? Well, one reason is because you have this hole in your budget going to something that’s inefficient … and you’re having problems financing it.”

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu announced an end to subsidies after taking office last year. But when pump prices tripled, he froze them. And when the naira currency crashed, subsidies crept back — despite higher pump prices.

Unpopular policies

Now, leaders mulling further price hikes are also nervously eyeing revolts elsewhere over unpopular economic policies. Bangladesh’s prime minister resigned after hundreds died protesting job quota changes, while Kenya’s president fired his cabinet and backtracked on tax hikes after deadly demonstrations in June.

“If there was a reluctance to increase fuel prices prior to the events in Kenya … that reluctance, if anything, is probably even higher,” said Goldman Sachs senior economist Andrew Matheny.

“Politicians around the world are tuned to this cost of living crisis … that probably does limit the willingness of policymakers to undertake reforms that, at least in the short term, might prove to be unpopular.”

That could further strain budgets. Nigeria’s subsidies cost 3% of GDP, Matheny said, and its oil company owes billions for imports. Senegal’s electricity and fuel subsidies hit 3.3% of GDP last year, while Angola’s 1.9 trillion kwanza ($2.1 billion) subsidy bill in 2022 was more than 40% of spending on social programs, according to the IMF.

Angola has pledged to scrap fuel-price supports by the end of next year, though five people died in protests over price hikes last year.

Celio of ProMeritum said a sustainable budget is key to attracting the investor cash these countries need.

In a post on X, Tinubu appealed for patience and promised social support, such as access to affordable education.

“I urge you all to look beyond the present temporary pain and aim at the larger picture,” he said, without commenting on whether he would further hike fuel costs.

But Rewane noted that “shock therapy” of higher fuel costs could have even greater consequences for Nigeria than Kenya’s proposed tax hikes did. Arosanwo, for one, questioned why she should “stop talking,” or protesting, with doubled transportation costs and as she struggles to feed her family.

“The government has a political will,” Rewane said. “But … time is something that is not a friend of everybody right now.”
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Ukrainian officials say Russian drone attack damages residential building in Kherson

Posted on by SeeEU

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Ex-Catalan leader Puigdemont returns to Spain after nearly 7 years as a fugitive

Posted on by SeeEU

BARCELONA, Spain — Former Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont, who fled Spain after organizing an independence referendum in the wealthy Spanish region nearly seven years ago that was declared illegal, returned to the country on Thursday despite a pending arrest warrant.

Puigdemont defiantly appeared in Barcelona after traveling from Belgium and made a speech in front of a large crowd of supporters. He faces charges of embezzlement for his part in the attempt to break Catalonia away from the rest of Spain.

Addressing the crowd, Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of “a crackdown” on the Catalan separatist movement.

“For the last seven years we have been persecuted because we wanted to hear the voice of the Catalan people,” Puigdemont said. “They have made being Catalan into something suspicious.”

He added: “All people have the right to self-determination.”

The 2017 referendum organized by Puigdemont was declared illegal at the time both by Spain’s central government and the Constitutional Court.

Puigdemont has dedicated his career to the goal of carving out a new country in northeast Spain — a struggle which is decades-old. His largely uncompromising approach has brought political conflict with other separatist parties as well as with Spain’s central government.

Puigdemont appeared in a central Barcelona park where several thousand separatist supporters who had gathered in expectation of his arrival waved Catalan flags. He punched the air to cheers on a bright, sunny day.

The event was organized by his political party Together for Catalonia (Junts), hours before a new regional government was to take office nearby.

Local police were deployed in a security ring around a section of the park where Catalonia’s parliament building is located behind walls. Puigdemont, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie, walked toward the building followed by masses of supporters.

Puigdemont had earlier announced publicly he was going back to Spain, though he gave no travel details.

Puigdemont’s presence in Spain is likely to generate renewed political tension over the smoldering issue of Catalan independence. The failed secession attempt triggered a protracted constitutional crisis.

It wasn’t immediately clear how authorities would proceed if Puigdemont was arrested.

A contentious amnesty bill, crafted by Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government, could potentially clear Puigdemont and hundreds of other supporters of Catalan independence of any wrongdoing in the illegal 2017 ballot.

But the bill, approved by Spain’s parliament earlier this year, is being challenged by the Supreme Court, which argues the pardon does not apply to embezzlement, unlike other crimes that Puigdemont had previously been charged with. Puigdemont could be placed in pretrial detention.

The former Catalan leader’s return threatened to complicate a deal brokered after months of deadlock between Salvador Illa’s Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and the other main Catalan separatist party and left-wing Esquerra Republicana (ERC).

That deal had ensured just enough support in Catalonia’s parliament for Illa to become the next regional president in an investiture debate Thursday.
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China discloses first heatstroke fatalities amid record temperatures

Posted on by SeeEA

BEIJING — At least two people have died from heat-stroke in one Chinese city, and many more have fallen ill, as temperatures hovered around 40 degrees Celsius for the eighth day on the eastern seaboard.

Over the next three days, most areas south of the Yangtze River, which empties into the sea in Shanghai, are expected to bake in 37C-39C heat, with temperatures in parts of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces exceeding 40C, forecasters said Thursday.

After sweltering in its hottest July in observed modern history, China has been hit by extreme heat, particularly in the east and south of the country. Zhejiang’s provincial capital Hangzhou recorded a 41.9C historical high on August 3.

Emergency services in Shenzhen, a city of 18 million people in Guangdong province, said it had made 88 emergency house calls due to heat-related illnesses from August 1-6.

Two men, one in his 50s and the other in his 60s, later died, according to a statement released late Wednesday.

China does not give a tally of heat-related deaths, although domestic media occasionally report fatalities, citing local authorities.

In 2022, China was hit by the worst heat waves since 1961, with many parts of the country enduring a 79-day hot spell from June 13 to August 30. No official death tally has been disclosed.

China’s Ministry of Emergency Management said 554 people died or went missing that year “due to natural disasters.”

Heat-related deaths can be hard to categorize, as a fatality owing to a heat-stroke could be classified differently if the cause of death was a heart attack or organ failure.

In a 2023 report published in the medical journal The Lancet, heat wave-related mortality in China was estimated at 50,900 deaths in 2022, doubling from 2021.  
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