Month: August 2024

Popular Taiwanese dumpling chain to close 14 stores in China as economy loses steam

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Taipei, Taiwan — Din Tai Fung, a popular Michelin-starred Taiwanese restaurant known for its long lines and hot dumplings, says it is closing more than a dozen stores in China as the world’s second-largest economy loses steam and thrifty consumers seek out cheaper options for dining out.

The company’s subsidiary, Beijing Hengtai Feng Catering Company, announced Monday that it plans to close all its 14 restaurants in northern China including one in Xiamen. The brand’s parent company in Taipei told VOA that its 18 remaining restaurants across Eastern China, run by another Shanghai-based partner, will remain in normal operation.

“We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment this decision may cause to our many loyal Din Tai Fung customers,” the subsidiary said in a statement on the Chinese social media app WeChat. It added that employees’ severance and placement would be handled properly. 

Some 800 employees will be impacted by the move, which comes as price competition between restaurants heats up and consumer habits shift in China.

Since Beijing began loosening its strict COVID-19 control policies in late 2022, allowing more people to eat out again, Chinese consumers have been more frugal in their spending, given a range of economic challenges the country is going through from a property market crisis to high unemployment and a slumping stock market.

“The current situation in China is that while there is still traffic, the consumption power is weak, including in the restaurant service industry,” said Darson Chiu, a Taiwan-based economist and director general of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry. “A high-end brand like Din Tai Fung may not be able to meet the consumers’ needs as they downgrade their consumption in China’s current economic environment.”

Zhiwu Chen, a professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, told VOA Mandarin in April that he found it unbelievable that some restaurants in Nanjiang were offering food for a table of 10 for 400 yuan ($56), or 40 yuan per head, down from its previous price range of 700 yuan.

Another factor posing challenges to companies like Din Tai Fung has been foreign companies’ decreasing confidence in China’s economy coupled with a drop in foreign tourists to China.

In an interview with Taiwan’s Central News Agency, Beijing Hengtai Feng’s General Manager Galvin Yang said foreign consumers accounted for 20% to 30% of Din Tai Fung’s customers in China, and foreign consumers have still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

To adjust to weakening demand, Haidilao, a popular hot pot restaurant, has introduced a more affordable sub-brand hot pot called Hailao and begun offering personal services such as free hair washing.

According to DianPing, an app that connects people to local businesses and restaurants, the cost of a visit to a Din Tai Fung restaurant in China averages roughly $21. Most of the chain’s competitors in Beijing offer far more reasonable buffet deals, while fast-food chains serve full meals for just over a dollar.

Reactions to Din Tai Fung’s closings have been mixed in China. Some consumers say they will miss their “beloved dumplings,” while others were indifferent, and some criticized the restaurant chain for poor service.

Despite Din Tai Fung’s struggles in China, the company — which has more than 180 stores globally — has found success abroad in the United States, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirate.

In June and July, Din Tai Fung opened new branches in California and New York. 
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Chips down: Indonesia battles illegal online gambling

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Jakarta, Indonesia — When the wife of Indonesian snack seller Surya asked why he stopped sending money home to his West Java village, he broke down, confessing to a gambling addiction that had cost him more than $12,000.

“When I lost big I was determined to win back what I lost. No matter what — even if I had to borrow money,” the 36-year-old father of two told AFP, declining to use his real name.

While gambling is illegal in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation — with sentences of up to six years in prison — government figures show around 3.7 million Indonesians engaged in it last year, placing more than $20 billion in bets.

The stats prompted President Joko Widodo in June to set up a task force, headed by the country’s security minister, and that month the government ordered telecoms providers to block overseas gambling websites — typically in Cambodia and the Philippines.

Some VPN services, which gamblers use to bypass firewalls on foreign sites, were also blacklisted, but diehard gamblers are still able to bet from their phones or through illegal bookies, and it is easy to borrow money from loan sharks.

Surya was earning up to $250 a month in the West Java capital Bandung, but once he started gambling, he said he was sending home to his family only one-quarter of that.

He would play mobile gambling games until dawn and squander away his hard-earned money.

“Even when you’re winning, the money will be gone instantly. Now, I’d rather give money to my wife,” he said.

‘I want to quit’

Eno Saputra, a 36-year-old vegetable seller in South Sumatra, started buying lottery tickets five years ago but is now addicted to mobile gambling.

He spends at least $6 a day gambling and once won $500, but usually suffers losses.

“From the bottom of my heart, I want to quit, for my children,” the father of three told AFP.

“I know this is wrong and forbidden by my religion.”

There is hope for some in Bogor, south of the capital Jakarta, where a clinic at a psychiatry hospital, since the beginning of the year, has been treating patients struggling to break their gambling addiction.

So far 19 addicts have received counseling and therapy for anxiety, paranoia, sleep disorders and suicidal thoughts, said Nova Riyanti Yusuf, director of the Marzoeki Mahdi Psychiatric Hospital.

But doctors believe there are many more struggling without treatment. 

“I believe this is the tip of the iceberg because not everybody understands that gambling addiction is a disorder,” Nova told AFP.

The hospital is now conducting a study to collect data on how many Indonesians are addicted.

Crime spree

A spate of murders, suicides and divorces linked to illegal online gambling has further cast a spotlight on the surging trade.

In June, an East Java policewoman set her husband on fire because of his gambling, while last year a 48-year-old man in Central Sulawesi robbed and killed his mother to fund his habit, according to local media reports.

Local media have also reported a spike in suicides this year by gambling addicts while Islamic courts on Java island say they are dealing with more divorce requests from women whose husbands won’t stop betting.

“Gambling puts our future at risk … also the future of our family and our children,” President Widodo said when launching the task force.

Experts say, however, that the government’s initiative isn’t enough.

Police say they arrested 467 online gambling operators between April and June, seizing more than $4 million in assets.

But Indonesian judges have been criticized for handing out lenient prison sentences, with operators receiving sentences ranging from seven to 18 months.

“The investigation must be extended to the big names,” said Nailul Huda, an economist from the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) research group.

“Those operators did not work alone. They answered to someone big.”

Surya, meanwhile, has quit gambling for the past month and says he is committed to stopping long-term.

“Nobody is getting rich from online gambling. Now I’ve learned my lesson,” he said.

But for other addicts like Eno, breaking free from the habit is no easy feat.

“This is a stupid thing to do,” he said, “but I am addicted.”
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Media call for greater protections after junta raid kills two journalists

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WASHINGTON — Journalists in Myanmar are calling for greater protections for media following the killing last week of two reporters, and the heavy sentences handed down to other media professionals since the military seized power.

A journalist with the Democratic Voice of Burma, or DVB, and a freelancer were both killed on Aug. 21 when the military raided the home of the freelance reporter in the town of Kyaikhto, in Mon state.

The killings come amid a crackdown on independent journalism, according to media watchdogs. Since the February 2021 coup, media have had licenses revoked, journalists have been forced into exile and dozens have been detained.

Aung Kyaw of DVB told VOA more than 30 military members entered the home of freelancer Htet Myat Thu and fatally shot both him and DVB reporter Win Htut Oo, along with two resistance fighters.

VOA was unable to determine if the journalists, the fighters, or both were the targets. Local authorities did not respond to VOA’s request for comment on the raid.

“When Htet Myat Thu’s mother heard the gunshots and ran back to the house, she saw DVB reporter Win Htut Oo falling down with a gunshot wound,” said Aung Kyaw. “Htet Myat and Win Htut Oo were childhood friends.”

The journalists both reported on the resistance movement. For safety reasons they interviewed opposition members in private spaces, including their home.

Win Htut Oo had previously been arrested by the junta under Section 505 — amended legislation that penalizes spreading anything deemed to be false information or fear about the military. The 26-year-old had more recently been living at the home of his friend, Htet Myat, 28.

The junta cremated the bodies of both journalists instead of returning them to their families.

Media watchdog the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the killings as “an atrocity against the free press [that] must not go unpunished.”

Nay Aung, the editor-in-chief of The Nation Voice, told VOA that Win Htut Oo worked for the local media outlet.

“He was a reporter who sent us daily news about the resistance activities, not just the battle news, but also the economic news in the region,” said Nay Aung.

Two days before the raid, Win Htut Oo had reported on a police officer arrested by the military over suspected connections to the local People’s Defense Forces, or PDF fighters, and about a female lawyer who was also accused of supporting the local pro-democracy militia.

“I think it must have been the reason behind the raid, which happened the day after the news were published,” Nay Aung said.

“Not only our reporters risk [their] lives to file reports but also all the journalists in Myanmar are risking their lives, reporting news that is happening in the country and the suffering of the people,” he added.

Nay Aung said that more needs to be done to ensure journalist safety in Myanmar and that reporters understand the security risks.

“In addition, we need to prepare more to create safe conditions for journalists to live and travel in the country.”

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, known as RSF, condemned the killings.

In a statement, it said that the junta is “demonstrating ruthless violence against the journalists still courageously reporting in the country despite the prolonged conflict.”

“We again renew our call on the international community to step up pressure on the regime to cease its campaign of terror against reporters,” said RSF Asia-Pacific head, Cédric Alviani.

Myanmar’s journalists have also been renewing calls for the international community to pressure the military council on press freedom.

The editor in chief of the Dawei Watch news agency, Kyaw San Min, told VOA that two of its reporters were unjustly arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

Reporters Myo Myint Oo and Aung San Oo were arrested on Dec. 11, 2023, and questioned for four days. In separate military hearings, Myo Myint Oo was sentenced to life in prison in February and Aung San Oo was sentenced to 20 years in May.

“They were sentenced to long prison terms without knowing what section or article they were charged under. Looking back on this whole process, there is no transparency at all,” said Kyaw San Min. “There is no justice for journalists. There is no right to defend nor explain.”

With the military leaders saying they will hold elections at some point in 2025, some analysts believe more media may face attacks or arrests.

Myanmar is already one of the top jailers of journalists globally, with at least 43 detained there for their work, according to data by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Toe Zaw Latt, of the Independent Press Council of Myanmar, said that journalists are being oppressed unfairly.

“We also need to protect journalists more from this end,” he said, adding that Myanmar’s media are discussing steps with groups including RSF.

This article originated in VOA’s Burmese Service.
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Sullivan’s China visit expected to set stage for Biden-Xi final meeting

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Washington — U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Tuesday in Beijing with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in an attempt to manage tensions between Washington and Beijing ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.

Sullivan’s visit, which ends on Thursday, also aims to set the stage for President Joe Biden to hold his final summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping before Biden leaves office in January, analysts say.

Before holding the closed-door talks, Wang told reporters that China-U.S. relations were “critical,” of great importance to the world, but have taken “twists and turns.” He said he hoped the relationship between the two countries would become healthy and stable. 

Sullivan said the two sides would discuss areas of agreement and disagreement that “need to be managed effectively and substantively.”  

U.S. officials say the main purpose of Sullivan’s visit is to maintain mutual communication that has been severely disrupted over trade tensions, rights concerns and Beijing’s increasingly close relations with Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine.  

At a press briefing last week, a senior administration official said on background that Sullivan and Wang are expected to spend about 10 to 12 hours over two days discussing bilateral, global, regional and cross-strait issues.

“It bears repeating that U.S. diplomacy and channels of communication do not indicate a change in approach to the PRC [People’s Republic of China]. This is an intensely competitive relationship. We are committed to making the investments, strengthening our alliances and taking the common steps — common sense steps on tech and national security — that we need to take. We are committed to managing this competition responsibly, however, and prevent it from veering into conflict,” the official said.

The official added that Sullivan would raise U.S. concerns about China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base, the South China Sea and other global issues such as North Korea, the Middle East, Myanmar and the Taiwan Strait.

The visit is not expected to produce a major breakthrough, but media reports noted it could set the stage for Biden to hold his final summit with Xi before leaving office in January.  

Although neither the Chinese Foreign Ministry nor the U.S. State Department has confirmed it, Biden and Xi could meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru from Nov. 10 to 16, or at the G20 summit in Brazil on Nov. 18 and 19.  

With the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5, Biden, who is not seeking reelection and is a “lame duck,” has waning influence on U.S. policy. Nonetheless, Chinese leaders are interested in meeting the U.S. president, said Wesley Alexander Hill, lead analyst and international program manager at the International Tax and Investment Center. 

“Because there is such an unusual bipartisan agreement and skepticism about China, I really wouldn’t think that the lame-duck period is going to be a significant factor in terms of meeting with Biden or talking with Biden,” Hill told VOA.

“Because with China, the theme to stress is continuity in terms of America’s foreign policy. Even with Trump and his, let’s say, very direct mannerisms and his hostility towards China, the Biden administration hasn’t reversed course on the fundamentals of Trump’s policies.”

The senior administration official said at the press briefing last week that Sullivan’s trip shouldn’t be associated too closely with the election. 

“This meeting will be focused on the topics and the issues that we are dealing with now. There is a lot we can get done before the end of the year in terms of just managing the relationship,” the official said.

Neysun Mahboubi, director of the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, told VOA that regardless of who becomes the next U.S. president, the last meeting between Biden and Xi will not be just a formality.

Mahboubi said Chinese leaders, elites and ordinary people are very interested in the U.S. presidential election but said they don’t have a consensus on which candidate would be more helpful to U.S.-China relations.

“I’m sure that there’s a sense that for China, the trade war was particularly damaging. There would be an understanding that [a] Trump presidency is likely to pursue that approach with even more vigor. On the other hand, the Biden administration has been very effective in invigorating allies, including in Europe, including in the Asia Pacific, in a way that the Trump administration really has not done,” he said.

Last week, the United States imposed sweeping sanctions on nearly 400 individuals and companies — 42 of them Chinese — for helping Russia circumvent U.S. sanctions and contributing to Moscow’s war on Ukraine. 

China’s Commerce Ministry on Sunday said the U.S. action “undermines international trade order and rules, obstructs normal international economic and trade exchanges, and affects the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains.”  

At a briefing for diplomats ahead of Sullivan’s arrival in Beijing on Tuesday, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs Li Hui reiterated those sentiments, calling sanctions on Chinese entities “illegal and unilateral” and “not based on facts.” China calls US sanctions over Ukraine war ‘illegal and unilateral.”

  Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.  Some information for this story came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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What might Kamala Harris’ Mideast policy look like?

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Washington — The White House welcomed on Tuesday the rescue of an Israeli hostage abducted October 7 by Hamas and said a Gaza cease-fire deal is being finalized.

But even if an agreement is reached, a truce is unlikely to extend beyond the six weeks of phase one of the three-phase deal. The next U.S. administration will still inherit the role of managing tensions in the region.

Since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris has aimed to strike a balance between reaffirming U.S. support for Israel and advocating for Palestinian humanitarian needs — in essence, signaling a continuation of President Joe Biden’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war and, more broadly, the Middle East.

Harris summed up her position in her acceptance speech as the Democratic presidential nominee at the party’s convention in Chicago.

“President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination,” she said.

Democrats are enthusiastic about Harris, even though she has not yet laid out her own policies. And unlike Biden, a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, most of Harris’ exposure to foreign policy was during her tenure as vice president.

Not having “foreign policy baggage” might benefit Harris in the eyes of Democratic voters, said Natasha Hall, senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Hall pointed out that in October 2002, Biden was one of 77 senators who gave President George W. Bush the authority to use force in Iraq, a decision that eventually became a liability for Biden, much as his staunch support for Israel has become the most divisive issue in his own party.

Adviser’s influence

Those looking to see whether Harris’ Mideast policy will diverge from Biden’s can look to her national security adviser, Phillip Gordon, who is expected to remain in the role if she is elected. He would be the principal adviser to the president on all national security issues, including foreign policy.

“Phil Gordon is the type of adviser that colors in the lines,” Hall told VOA. “He’s the kind of person that I think very much is sort of old-fashioned American foreign policy.”

Gordon was against ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power in 2003. He chronicled American efforts to overthrow leaders in the Middle East in his 2020 book, “Losing the Long Game: The False Promise of Regime Change in the Middle East.”

“The U.S. policy debate about the Middle East suffers from the fallacy that there is an external American solution to every problem, even when decades of painful experience suggest that this is not the case,” he wrote. “And regime change is the worst ‘solution.'”

Such an outlook would make a Harris administration “very, very cautious to deal assertively with Iran,” said Jonathan Rynhold, head of the Political Studies Department at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University.

From an Israeli perspective, however, Harris’ direct involvement in the administration’s recent decision to deploy more military assets to the Middle East to deter Iran is good news, Rynhold told VOA.

“If that is the policy that she goes on to adopt, then that crosses the minimal threshold of what Israel needs on Iran,” he said. “It may not be what Israel desires, which is a more forceful approach, but it is not a passive one.”

Current Harris aides have told VOA that Harris she intends to stay on the path that Biden has laid out: working beyond a cease-fire toward a two-state solution without sacrificing Israel’s security.

Harris’ former national security adviser while she was in the Senate, Halie Soifer, agreed.

“The vice president and the president have supported U.S. military assistance to Israel, not just for the existing agreement that we have with Israel,” said Soifer, who is now the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “But also an increase this year because of their security needs,” she told VOA

Generational and personal background

Biden’s generation, with a more visceral sense of the Holocaust, views Israel as a tiny democracy surrounded by hostile Arab powers. People of Harris’ generation and younger see Israel for what it is today: a thriving democracy and the region’s top military power. While Biden and Harris may share the same goal for Israel’s security, there’s not the same emotional resonance, Rynhold said.

Younger Americans “don’t remember a time when Jews and Israel were extremely vulnerable,” he said. “So they don’t have a same sense of that continuing vulnerability that President Biden really has.”

And for the president, Israel is integral to the story of America’s role in the world.

“America is there to prevent the Holocaust. America is there to support democracies, and Israel is central to his way of understanding that role,” Rynhold said.

If elected, Harris would become the first person to hold the highest office in the land whose parents are both immigrants. Barack Obama’s father was born in Kenya, and Donald Trump’s mother was born in the U.K. Harris’ father came from Jamaica and her mother, from India.

Unlike Biden, who often underscores that he is a Zionist, a loaded term often viewed with scorn in many parts of the world, Harris may be more sensitive to views from the Global South.

In a 2018 speech to an Indian American group, Harris spoke fondly of childhood visits to the home of her maternal grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, describing him as someone who had fought for “freedom and for justice and for independence.”

“She is aware of how the rest of the world may feel about the Middle East, about neocolonialism, neoimperialism,” Hall said. “I really hope that she has the opportunity to bring those experiences to bear if she becomes the president.”

But it’s hard to tell what a Harris doctrine would eventually look like.

“What she says now is directed to winning an election and keeping the Democratic Party together,” Rynhold said.

And since the party is evenly split between those sympathetic to Israel and those sympathetic to the Palestinians, she must express platitudes, he said.

“And that’s what she has done.”
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Ukraine deals with aftermath of massive air attack on infrastructure

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In the wake of Russia’s massive air attacks across Ukraine Monday, Ukrainians are moving quickly to get power and transportation back online. Ukraine’s military says Russia launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the attacks, with more strikes on Tuesday. As Lesia Bakalets reports, cities are dealing with power outages, water supply interruptions and train delays. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets
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Burkina victims’ families criticize army over massacre

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Abidjan, Ivory Coast — Families of Burkina Faso civilians killed in a massacre have accused the army of exposing them to their militant killers by making them leave their village to dig a trench.

Armed men carried out the attack in the village of Barsalogho in north central Burkina Faso on Saturday, killing dozens of civilians and security personnel, local sources said.

A group linked to al-Qaeda, known by its Arabic initials JNIM, claimed responsibility and said it had seized control of a local militia headquarters.

A group representing victims’ families, the Justice Collective for Barsalogho, said in a statement seen by Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that Burkina Faso military officials had “obliged people, through threats, to take part in construction work, against their will.”

It said they forced the locals to dig a trench 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from the village for forces to use in fighting off the militants.

The collective demanded that investigations be carried out to determine who was responsible for the alleged order.

In two videos apparently documenting the massacre —circulated on social media and attributed by various sources to JNIM — assailants in military dress are seen firing automatic weapons at a trench containing at least 91 bodies.

Authorities have not given a toll.

A member of the collective, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals by the army, told AFP they helped bury victims in mass graves that contained “more than 100 bodies.”

Rebels affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have waged an insurgency in Burkina Faso since 2015 that has killed more than 20,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

A security source earlier claimed that “the response of the soldiers” and auxiliary troops “made it possible to neutralize several terrorists and avoid a greater tragedy.”

After taking power in a coup in September 2022, Burkina’s junta leader Ibrahim Traore vowed to make fighting terrorism a priority.

This year he issued a call to civil auxiliary fighters who are aiding the army to “mobilize local people to dig trenches to protect yourselves” until machinery could be delivered.
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How would a potential Harris administration handle Mideast tensions?

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White House officials welcomed the rescue of an Israeli hostage held by Hamas Tuesday and said they are finalizing a Gaza cease-fire deal. But even if an agreement is reached, a future U.S. administration will still inherit the problem of managing tensions in the Middle East. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at potential U.S. policy under Vice President Kamala Harris should she win the November presidential election.
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US urges certain ‘negative actors’ not to fuel Sudan’s civil war

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WASHINGTON — The United States is urging certain foreign nations not to fuel Sudan’s civil war by arming fighting factions, as the country faces one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Meanwhile, Washington has also called on Sudan’s warring sides to enforce a code of conduct to reduce abuses, noting that the army is considering the proposal after its rival paramilitary forces have agreed to it.

More than 25 million people face acute hunger and more than 10 million have been displaced from their homes since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, the State Department said.

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen a significant proliferation of the number of external actors that are playing a role on both sides,” and they are not putting the interest of the Sudanese people “at the core of this,” said Tom Perriello, U.S. special envoy for Sudan.

“In addition to UAE [the United Arab Emirates] supporting the RSF,” Perriello told reporters on Tuesday, “we see foreign fighters coming in from across the Sahel. We’ve seen Iran, Russia, other negative actors on the SAF side.”

U.S.-brokered peace talks on Sudan that concluded last week in Geneva failed to end the country’s 16-month conflict. But one of the warring sides, the RSF, agreed to a code of conduct pledging to avoid violence against women, exploitation at checkpoints and the destruction of crops.

Perriello said that the U.S. has presented the proposal to the SAF leaders who were absent in the Switzerland negotiations.

“They have the code of conduct in front of them. We hope to get a response from them in the coming days,” Perriello said.

The United States has accused the SAF and RSF of war crimes, with the RSF specifically charged with ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity targeting the indigenous African-origin people of Darfur.

During the talks in Geneva, the U.S., along with representatives from the African Union, the United Arab Emirates, the United Nations, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, focused on reopening three humanitarian corridors — the Western border crossing in Darfur at Adre, the northern Dabbah Road from Port Sudan and the southern access route through Sennar.

Later this week, the U.S. will have a first formal follow-up with the heads of delegations.

Humanitarian assistance deliveries have resumed via two of the three routes: across the border at Adre from Chad and along the Dabbah Road into famine-stricken areas of Sudan.

In a statement late Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the reopening of humanitarian corridors, saying lack of humanitarian aid access into Darfur over the past six months has exacerbated the historic levels of famine and acute hunger across Sudan, particularly within the Zamzam camp.
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Vaccine shortage hinders mpox inoculation in Africa

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Nairobi, Kenya   — The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the continent needs 10 million doses of mpox vaccines to stop the spread of the disease, which it recently declared a public health emergency.

However, experts say the global shortage of mpox vaccines will affect any inoculation drives in Africa.  

Professor Salim Abdool Karim, a virologist at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, South Africa, said there are currently three types of vaccines for mpox, but they are hard to obtain. 

“They aren’t available, and if people are to start manufacturing them now, it will take quite a while before doses will become available,” he said, adding that price is also an obstacle. “They sell for between $100 to $200 a dose, and you need to give everybody two doses. So that’s a very expensive vaccine.”   

The mpox ailment, formally known as monkeypox due to its original discovery in monkeys in Denmark, was first detected in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been the epicenter of the current outbreak.  

Karim said mpox, which previously did not pose serious health concerns, has been mutating and the current strain is worrying, especially for Africa’s younger population, which is more susceptible. 

“If left unchecked, we will see mpox spread quite rapidly. And the reason it will spread rapidly is because it is now sexually transmitted. And we’ve seen from other sexually transmitted infections like HIV … that sexually transmitted infections can spread quite widely in Africa,” he said.   

Since July, mpox cases have been detected in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, as well as the DRC. 

Kenya has recorded two cases, and hopes to receive vaccine doses as part of the international effort to stop transmission of the disease. 

Kenyan Ministry of Health officials, however, say they are worried about the global vaccine shortage.  

“Africa requires 10 million doses,” said Dr. Patrick Amoth, director general for health in Kenya. “What could be available up to the end of the year is two million doses, if the …  manufacturer of the vaccine repurposes its manufacturing capacity to stop manufacturing — or scale down the manufacture of — other vaccines and prioritizes manufacture of the mpox vaccine.

“So, in terms of priority, of course it will be pegged on the number of cases that each and every country gets. So, for now, we cannot even … start talking about vaccination if we have only recorded two cases of the disease.”   

Amoth said there is no cause for alarm as the country has put in place measures to deal with the outbreak of the disease.   

“We have formed rapid response teams to be able to support counties in terms of contact tracing and other logistics required, including case management,” he said.  

Karim is challenging African countries to move toward developing their own vaccines locally, saying he worries wealthy countries could be hoarding the available vaccines for their own citizens. 

“I’m pretty convinced that if African scientists put their heads together, we can make an mpox vaccine and we can manufacture it right here in Africa,” he said. “It’s not rocket science. It just needs the investments to be made to do that.”   

As the wait for vaccines continues, health experts say testing, contact tracing, and public education are the best strategies in dealing with the outbreak in Africa, at least for now.  
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New Hampshire resident dies after testing positive for mosquito-borne encephalitis virus

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Climate change activists, deniers fight for hearts and minds in Kenya

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Nairobi, Kenya — Few countries have been hit harder by climate change than Kenya, where more frequent droughts and floods have become a fact of life for much of the country. One woman who won a contest to be named Miss Climate Kenya is working to build climate resilience and convince people to adapt to a changing world. At the same time, a farmer in western Kenya is denying the existence of climate change and defending the exploration of fossil fuels in Africa.

Over the past two decades, new weather patterns have become all too common in eastern Africa, killing off crops, pasture and livestock. Conversely, Kenya saw heavy flooding that killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands more this year.

Twenty-four-year-old Dorcas Naishorua, who was named Miss Climate Kenya in May, has experienced what climate change can do to lives and livelihoods. Naishorua is a member of the Maasai tribe. Her community relies on livestock for survival. Members move from one place to another in search of water and pasture for their animals to survive. 

“Since the onset of the serious climate crisis, I have personally been affected by it,” she said. “The same livestock my parents depended on to take me to school, most of them were lost during the drought, and due to that, I had to cut short my education.”

Naishorua said she is using her platform to educate her community about climate change and how to deal with its effects.

“We have stopped lamenting,” she said. “Now we have a drought. What changes are we bringing? So, through my capacity, I have been engaging with different rescue centers. I have been with different schools in tree growing and sensitization what is a tree and what tree to plant where I have been doing that on my platforms.”

But as some activists try to build climate resilience, Kenyan farmer Jusper Machogu is attracting the attention of climate change deniers or skeptics, and his social media network is growing by the day.

Just today, he shared a video on X of former U.S. President Donald Trump denying climate change and said, “I think he represents some of my views, and so I kind of like him.”

Machogu, a farmer in Kisii, Kenya’s highland region, says he denies climate change is taking place because he believes it is hard to predict weather patterns.

Mochugu, who is also an agricultural engineer, says he supports the exploration and use of fossil fuels, which scientists have shown to be a major factor in global warming due to the emission of carbon dioxide. 

Machogu says clean energy sources cannot replace fossil fuels like oil and gas.

“We have plenty of fossil fuels,” he said. “We have plenty of natural gas. We have it in Uganda. We have it in Nigeria. We have oil in Angola, Namibia, all of these countries. But now we’re being told that we should not use that to flourish. We should not use it.” 

And he spoke of the importance of fossil fuels.

“And most people don’t realize how important, how crucial fossil fuels are,” he said. “Like we can’t have steel if we don’t use fossil fuels; there is no way to produce steel minus fossil fuels. Most people have heard that solar and wind are going to save the world, but solar and wind is just electricity.”

African farmers have experienced severe impacts from climate change. Weather patterns have become unpredictable, making it difficult for them to prepare land, grow food, and harvest on time.

Environmental earth scientist Edward Mugalavai says climate change skeptics could be won over with greater development of clean energy sources. 

“When you touch on the issue of fossil fuel, then it is like you are telling people you reduce industrialization,” he said. “That cannot happen. But what we are coming up with is to come up with green energy solutions where people can continue to industrialize but use green energy that does not pollute the environment. But if you have alternatives, people can easily accept the changes that are taking place.”

Naishorua, Kenya’s Miss Climate, said those denying climate change should check how their environment has changed over the years.

If that is too difficult to observe, she said, then they should take care and protect the environment around them.
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Dam collapse in eastern Sudan kills at least 30 people following heavy rains, UN agency says 

Posted on by SeeAF

Cairo, Egypt — The collapse of the Arbaat Dam in Sudan’s eastern Red Sea state over the weekend flooded nearby homes and killed at least 30 people following heavy rains, a U.N. agency said.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said late Monday, citing local officials, that the actual number of fatalities from the collapse on Sunday might be higher. Additionally, about 70 villages around the dam were affected by the flash flooding, including 20 villages that have been destroyed.

The Arbaat Dam, which is about 38 kilometers (nearly 25 miles) northwest of Port Sudan, was massively damaged because of heavy rains. In areas west of the dam, the flooding either destroyed or damaged the homes of 50,000 people — 77% of the total population living there. Those affected urgently need food, water and shelter, OCHA warned, adding that damage in eastern parts of the dam is still being assessed. 

More than 80 boreholes collapsed because of the flooding, OCHA said citing officials, while 10,000 heads of livestock are missing, and 70 schools have been either damaged or destroyed.

Heavy rain and flooding across Sudan this month impacted more than 317,000 people. Of those impacted, 118,000 people have been displaced, exacerbating one of the world’s biggest displacement crises due to the ongoing war in the country.

Tuesday marks 500 days since Sudan plunged into war after fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

The conflict began in the capital, Khartoum, and raged across Sudan, killing thousands of people, destroying civilian infrastructure, and pushing many to the brink of famine. More than 10 million people were forcibly displaced to find safety, according to the U.N.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement Tuesday that “this is a shameful moment” for international humanitarian organizations, which for more than 16 months, “have failed to provide an adequate response to the country’s escalating medical needs — from catastrophic child malnutrition to widespread disease outbreaks.”

“At the same time, heavy restrictions from both warring parties have drastically limited the ability to deliver humanitarian aid,” MSF said. 

Abdirahman Ali, CARE’s Sudan country director warned in a statement Tuesday that the war “shattered” the health care system, “leaving countless without care.”

More than 75% of health care systems have been destroyed since the war began, according to a World Health Organization estimate in July.
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Modi tells Putin he supports early end to Ukraine war

Posted on by SeeEU

New Delhi — Days after visiting Ukraine, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he supports a quick end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Modi’s discussion with the Russian leader on Tuesday came a day after he had a phone conversation about the war with U.S. President Joe Biden.

In a post on X, Modi wrote that he had “exchanged perspectives on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and my insights from the recent visit to Ukraine” with Putin. He said that he reiterated “India’s firm commitment to support an early, abiding and peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

During his meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, the Indian prime minister had urged talks between Russia and Ukraine and said that “we should move in that direction without losing any time.” He had offered to play an active role in efforts to achieve peace.

Modi’s visit to Kyiv came amid criticism from Western allies that New Delhi has not condemned Russia’s invasion.

The Indian foreign ministry said that during his phone talk with Putin, Modi underlined the importance of dialogue and diplomacy as well as “sincere and practical engagement between all stakeholders.”

Modi and Putin also reviewed progress on bilateral ties and discussed measures to further strengthen their partnership, the statement said.  

In his talk on Monday with Biden, Modi had also expressed India’s support for an early return of peace and stability.

“I think Modi’s conversations with the Russian and American leaders come amid an effort by India to convey that it is serious about using its leverage to resolve this conflict and to stake a claim for itself as an autonomous actor,” according to Harsh Pant, vice president for studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. “It has been faulted for not doing that in the past, so it is reaching out to the countries most closely involved in the conflict.”

India has not proposed any peace plan to resolve the war. But with New Delhi being one of the few countries that enjoys good relations with both Russia and the West, it hopes to push talks between Moscow and Ukraine.

Following Modi’s visit, Zelenskyy told reporters that he had told Modi that he would support India hosting the second summit on peace as Kyiv hopes to find a host among the countries in the Global South. The first peace summit was held in Switzerland in June.

In Kyiv, India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyan Jaishankar, had said that India is willing to do whatever it can to help end the war “because we do think that the continuation of this conflict is terrible, obviously for Ukraine itself but for the world as well.”

The resolution of the conflict is important for India, as Russia’s continued isolation could push Moscow into a tighter embrace with New Delhi’s arch rival, China, say analysts.

“India does not want Russia and the West’s rupture to be permanent because that only means that the Moscow-Beijing dynamic becomes much more solid,” according to Pant. “India also wants a stable Europe which can then play a larger role in ensuring a stable Indo-Pacific. That is very important for India. A Europe which is involved with its own internal challenges rather than a global role is something India does not want.”

Modi visited Ukraine six weeks after his visit to Moscow elicited strong criticism from Zelenskyy and Western allies. The first-ever visit by an Indian prime minister to the country was billed as a “landmark” one.

However analysts in New Delhi point out that Modi’s trip to Ukraine will have no bearing on India’s warm relationship with the Kremlin. Before he visited Kyiv, India’s foreign ministry had said that India has “substantive and independent ties with both Russia and Ukraine, and these partnerships stand on their own.”
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Flag football finds unlikely popularity in war-torn Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

Before Russia invaded in February 2022, American football was becoming popular in Ukraine. Today, most of the players are on the front lines. A gentler version of the game — flag football — is gaining ground in the meantime among kids and youth. Tetiana Kukurika has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Sergiy Rybchynski
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Vatican: China recognizes Catholic bishop of Tianjin

Posted on by SeeEA

Vatican City — China’s government has recognized the authority of the Catholic bishop of Tianjin, Melchior Shi Hongzhen, the Vatican said on Tuesday, who had previously been placed under house arrest for refusing to join China’s state-backed church structure. 

“This development is a positive fruit of the dialog established in recent years between the Holy See and the Chinese Government,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The Vatican struck a landmark deal with the Beijing government in 2018, which was renewed in 2022, over the appointment of Catholic bishops in the country.

The agreement gives Chinese officials some input into who Pope Francis appoints as bishops in the country and seeks to ease tensions in China between an underground Catholic flock loyal to the pope and the state-backed church.

Shi, 94, who has been bishop of Tianjin in northern China since 2019, was ordained as a Catholic bishop in 1982 and had refused to join the state church.

Shi took part in an inauguration ceremony on Tuesday as part of his official recognition by the government, the outlet AsiaNews reported. The ceremony took place in a hotel rather than a church, to stress that Shi had already been ordained a bishop decades ago, the report said. 

The Vatican and Beijing are due to decide this autumn whether to renew their agreement over bishop appointments. The Vatican’s chief diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, had said in May that the church hoped to renew it.
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Wild week of US weather includes heat wave, tropical storm, landslide, flash flood and snow

Posted on by SeeUS

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — It’s been a wild week of weather in many parts of the United States, from heat waves to snowstorms to flash floods.

Here’s a look at some of the weather events:

Midwest sizzles under heat wave

Millions of people in the Midwest have been enduring dangerous heat and humidity.

An emergency medicine physician treating Minnesota State Fair-goers for heat illnesses saw firefighters cut rings off two people’s swollen fingers Monday in hot weather that combined with humidity made it feel well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius).

Soaring late summer temperatures also prompted some Midwestern schools to let out early or cancel sports practices. The National Weather Service issued heat warnings or advisories across Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Oklahoma. Several cities including Chicago opened cooling centers.

Forecasters said Tuesday also will be scorching hot for areas of the Midwest before the heat wave shifts to the south and east.

West Coast mountains get early snowstorm

An unusually cold storm on the mountain peaks along the West Coast late last week brought a hint of winter in August. The system dropped out of the Gulf of Alaska, down through the Pacific Northwest and into California. Mount Rainier, southeast of Seattle, got a high-elevation dusting, as did central Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor resort.

Mount Shasta, the Cascade Range volcano that rises to 14,163 feet (4,317 meters) above far northern California, wore a white blanket after the storm clouds passed. The mountain’s Helen Lake, which sits at 10,400 feet (3,170 meters) received about half a foot of snow (15 centimeters), and there were greater amounts at higher elevations, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Shasta Ranger Station.

Tropical storm dumps heavy rain on Hawaii

Three tropical cyclones swirled over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, including Tropical Storm Hone, which brought heavy rain to Hawaii; Hurricane Gilma, which was weakening; and Tropical Storm Hector, which was churning westward, far off the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico.

The biggest impacts from Tropical Storm Hone (pronounced hoe-NEH) were rainfall and flash floods that resulted in road closures, downed power lines and damaged trees in some areas of the Big Island, said William Ahue, a forecaster at the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu. No injuries or major damage had been reported, authorities said.

Deadly Alaska landslide crashes into homes

A landslide that cut a path down a steep, thickly forested hillside crashed into several homes in Ketchikan, Alaska, in the latest such disaster to strike the mountainous region. Sunday’s slide killed one person and injured three others and prompted the mandatory evacuation of nearby homes in the city, a popular cruise ship stop along the famed Inside Passage in the southeastern Alaska panhandle.

The slide area remained unstable Monday, and authorities said that state and local geologists were arriving to assess the area for potential secondary slides. Last November, six people — including a family of five — were killed when a landslide destroyed two homes in Wrangell, north of Ketchikan.

Flash flood hits Grand Canyon National Park

The body of an Arizona woman who disappeared in Grand Canyon National Park after a flash flood was recovered Sunday, park rangers said. The body of Chenoa Nickerson, 33, was discovered by a group rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, the park said in a statement.

Nickerson was hiking along Havasu Creek about a half-mile (800 meters) from where it meets up with the Colorado River when the flash flood struck. Nickerson’s husband was among the more than 100 people safely evacuated.

The flood trapped several hikers in the area above and below Beaver Falls, one of a series of usually blue-green waterfalls that draw tourists from around the world to the Havasupai Tribe’s reservation. The area is prone to flooding that turns its iconic waterfalls chocolate brown.
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US military open to escorting Philippine ships in the South China Sea, senior admiral says 

Posted on by SeeEA

MANILA — The U.S. military is open to consultations about escorting Philippine ships in the disputed South China Sea, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Tuesday amid a spike in hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the disputed waters.

Adm. Samuel Paparo’s remarks, which he made in response to a question during a news conference in Manila with Philippine Armed Forces chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., provided a glimpse of the mindset of one of the highest American military commanders outside the U.S. mainland on a prospective operation that would risk putting U.S. Navy ships in direct collisions with those of China.

Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships regularly clash with Philippine vessels during attempts to resupply Filipino sailors stationed in parts of the South China Sea claimed by both countries. As these clashes grow increasingly hostile, resulting in injuries to Filipino sailors and damage to their ships, the Philippine government has faced questions about invoking a treaty alliance with Washington.

Paparo and Brawner spoke to reporters after an international military conference in Manila organized by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, at which China’s increasingly assertive actions in the South China Sea were spotlighted. Military and defense officials and diplomats from the U.S. and allied countries attended but there were no Chinese representatives.

Asked if the U.S. military would consider escorting Philippine ships delivering food and other supplies to Filipino forces in the South China Sea, Paparo replied, “Certainly, within the context of consultations.”

“Every option between the two sovereign nations in terms of our mutual defense, escort of one vessel to the other, is an entirely reasonable option within our Mutual Defense Treaty, among this close alliance between the two of us,” Paparo said without elaborating.

Brawner responded cautiously to the suggestion, which could run afoul of Philippine laws including a constitutional ban on foreign forces directly joining local combat operations.

“The attitude of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, as dictated by the Philippine laws, is for us to first rely on ourselves,” Brawner said. “We are going to try all options, all avenues that are available to us in order for us to achieve the mission… in this case, the resupply and rotation of our troops.”

“We will then seek for other options when we are already constrained from doing it ourselves,” Brawner said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has said there has been no situation so far that would warrant activating the treaty, which requires the allies to come to each other’s aid if they come under external attack.

President Joe Biden and his administration have repeatedly renewed their “ironclad” commitment to help defend the Philippines under the 1951 treaty if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr said at the conference that China is “the biggest disruptor” of peace in Southeast Asia and called for stronger international censure over its aggression in the South China Sea, a day after China blocked Philippine vessels from delivering food to a coast guard ship at the disputed Sabina Shoal in the contested waters.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that “the label of undermining peace can never be pinned on China,” blaming unspecified other actors for “making infringements and provocations in the South China Sea and introducing external forces to undermine the large picture of regional peace and stability.”

Teodoro later told reporters on the sidelines of the conference that international statements of concern against China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed waters and elsewhere were “not enough.”

“The antidote is a stronger collective multilateral action against China,” Teodoro said, adding that a U.N. Security Council resolution would be a strong step, but unlikely given China’s security council veto.

He also called for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to do more. The 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc includes the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, which have South China Sea claims that overlap with each other, as well as China’s and Taiwan’s.

“ASEAN, to remain relevant and credible, cannot continue to ignore what China is doing in the South China Sea,” Teodoro said.

In the latest incident in the South China Sea, Philippine officials said China deployed “an excessive force” of 40 ships that blocked two Philippine vessels from delivering food and other supplies to Manila’s largest coast guard ship in Sabina Shoal on Monday.

China and the Philippines blamed each other for the confrontation in Sabina, an uninhabited atoll claimed by both countries that has become the latest flashpoint in the Spratlys, the most hotly disputed region of the South China Sea.

China and the Philippines have separately deployed coast guard ships to Sabina in recent months on suspicion the other may act to take control of and build structures in the fishing atoll.

The Philippine coast guard said Chinese coast guard and navy ships, along with 31 suspected militia vessels, obstructed the delivery, which included an ice cream treat for the personnel aboard the BRP Teresa Magbanua as the Philippines marked National Heroes’ Day on Monday.

In Beijing, China’s coast guard said that it took control measures against two Philippine coast guard ships that “intruded” into waters near the Sabina Shoal. It said in a statement that the Philippine ships escalated the situation by repeatedly approaching a Chinese coast guard ship.

China has rapidly expanded its military and has become increasingly assertive in pursuing its territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety. The tensions have led to more frequent confrontations, primarily with the Philippines, though the longtime territorial disputes also involve other claimants, including Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

Japan’s government separately protested to Beijing on Tuesday, saying that a Chinese reconnaissance plane violated its airspace and forced it to scramble fighter jets.
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 Zuckerberg says Biden administration officials pressured Meta to censor some COVID-19 content 

Posted on by SeeUS

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Telegram boss to stay in French custody as Russia alleges US meddling

Posted on by SeeEU

PARIS — Telegram boss Pavel Durov could be held in police custody until Wednesday after French prosecutors said they had granted extra time for questioning, while a senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged Washington was behind his arrest.

Durov, a Russian-born billionaire, was arrested in France over the weekend as part of an investigation into crimes related to images of child sex abuse, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform, French prosecutors said on Monday.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the public prosecutor said Durov’s detention had been extended by up to 48 hours late on Monday.

The messaging platform, which analysts have described as a virtual battlefield, has been heavily used by both sides of the war in Ukraine and war-related news and propaganda channels around the globe.

Without providing evidence, Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said the United States, through France, was attempting to exert control over Telegram.

“Telegram is one of the few, and at the same time the largest, Internet platform over which the United States has no influence,” Volodin said in a post.

“On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, it is important for (President Joe) Biden to take Telegram under control.”

The White House did not immediately comment on Durov’s arrest.

With nearly 1 billion users, Telegram, which presents itself as a haven for free speech and political dissidents, is particularly prominent in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union.

While millions of ordinary users like the app for its easy use and range of functions, it is also widely used by far-right, anti-vax and conspiracist movements.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is known to be an avid user of the app, has said that the arrest was “in no way a political decision.”

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered – and sometimes graphic and misleading – content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict.
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