Month: September 2024

Experts blame Africa’s mpox outbreaks on neglect, world’s inability to stop epidemics

Posted on by SeeAF

LONDON — The growing mpox outbreaks in Africa that triggered the World Health Organization’s emergency declaration are largely the result of decades of neglect and the global community’s inability to stop sporadic epidemics among a population with little immunity against the smallpox-related disease, leading African scientists said Tuesday.

According to Dr. Dimie Ogoina, who chaired WHO’s mpox emergency committee, negligence has led to a new, more transmissible version of the virus emerging in countries with few resources to stop outbreaks.

Mpox, also known as monkeypox, had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa before the disease prompted the 2022 outbreak in more than 70 countries, Ogoina said at a virtual news conference.

“What we are witnessing in Africa now is different from the global outbreak in 2022,” he said. While that outbreak was overwhelmingly focused in gay and bisexual men, mpox in Africa is now being spread via sexual transmission as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.

And while most people over 50 were likely vaccinated against smallpox — which may provide some protection against mpox — that is not the case for Africa’s mostly young population, who Ogoina said were mostly susceptible.

Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms like fever and body aches. It mostly spreads through close skin-to-skin contact, including sex. People with more serious cases can develop prominent blisters on the face, hands, chest and genitals.

Earlier this month, WHO declared the surging mpox outbreaks in Congo and 11 other countries in Africa to be a global emergency.

On Tuesday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were more than 22,800 mpox cases and 622 deaths on the continent and that infections had jumped 200% in the last week. The majority of cases and deaths are in Congo, where most mpox infections are in children under 15.

Dr. Placide Mbala-Kingebeni, a Congolese scientist who helped identify the newest version of mpox, said diagnostic tests being used in the country did not always pick it up, making it hard to track the variant’s spread.

In May, Mbala-Kingebeni, who heads a lab at Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, published research showing a new form of mpox that may be less deadly but more transmissible. The noted mutations suggested it was “more adapted to human transmission,” he said, but the lack of tests in Congo and elsewhere complicated efforts to monitor outbreaks.

The new variant has been detected in four other African countries as well as Sweden, where health officials said they have identified the first case of a person this month with the more infectious form of mpox. The person had been infected during a stay in Africa.

WHO said that available data to date does not suggest that the new form of mpox is more dangerous but that research is ongoing.

Marion Koopmans, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands who has been studying mpox, said scientists were now seeing some significant impacts of the disease, noting that pregnant women were miscarrying or losing their fetuses and that some babies were being born infected with mpox.

Ogoina, a professor of infectious diseases at Niger Delta University in Nigeria, said that in the absence of vaccines and drugs, African health workers should focus on providing supportive care, like ensuring patients have enough to eat and are given mental health support, given the stigma that often comes with mpox.

“It’s very, very unfortunate that we have had mpox for 54 years and we are only now thinking about therapeutics,” he said.

Mbala-Kingebeni said strategies previously used to stop Ebola outbreaks in Africa might help, given the limited numbers of shots expected. He said authorities have estimated Africa needs about 10 million doses but might only receive about 500,000 — and it’s unclear when they might arrive.

“Finding a case and vaccinating around the case, like we did with Ebola, might help us target the hot spots,” he said.

Koopmans said that given the urgent need for vaccines in Africa, waiting for more doses to be produced was unrealistic.

“The short term really is about, who has vaccines and where are they to be best used next?” she said.

Spain’s health ministry announced Tuesday that it would dip into its mpox vaccine stockpile to donate 20% of its supply, about 500,000 doses, to African countries battling mpox.

“We consider it senseless to accumulate vaccines where they are not needed,” Spain’s health ministry said in a statement, adding Spain will recommend to the European Commission to propose that all member states also donate 20% of their vaccine stock.

Spain’s donation alone is more than what the European Union, vaccine Bavarian Nordic and the U.S. have pledged. Last week, Africa CDC said the EU and Bavarian Nordic had promised 215,000 mpox vaccines while the U.S. said it was donating 50,000 doses of the same vaccine to Congo. Japan has also donated some doses to Congo.

Meanwhile, the U.S. on Tuesday donated 10,000 doses of mpox vaccines to Nigeria where mpox has been common, making the vaccines the first to arrive in Africa since the global emergency was declared. The country has had a few dozen cases this year.
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Shuttered in Shanghai, Chinese bookstore reopens in Washington

Posted on by SeeEA

Washington — A Chinese bookstore reopened in Washington on Sunday, six years after the Chinese government forced it to close its doors in Shanghai.

JF Books was teeming with books — and customers — when it opened its doors in Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood. In the storefront, the shop’s name is displayed in English and Mandarin in neon green lights. The sporadic rain was perhaps fitting considering the bookstore’s namesake “jifeng” means “monsoon” in Mandarin.

The bookstore is located next to Kramers, an indie bookstore that has been a Washington fixture for decades. Yu Miao, who runs JF Books, says he hopes his bookstore becomes an institution for the local community, too.

“I hope the bookstore can establish a connection between people in the Chinese community, and this connection could be established through knowledge,” Yu told VOA shortly before the shop opened for business. “Also, I hope the bookstore’s function can go beyond the Chinese community. It can also contribute to the local community.”

The shop sells Chinese-language books from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in addition to a selection of English-language books. It will also regularly host speakers for events.

Founded in Shanghai in 1997 as Jifeng Bookstore, the shop ran into trouble in 2017 when its landlord said the lease couldn’t be extended. The bookstore looked for a new location, but the prospective landlords at each potential site received warnings or notifications from the government.

Jifeng Bookstore is one of several independent bookstores that Beijing has forced to close in recent years.

The fact that bookstores have become a battleground underscores the Chinese government’s broader repression of free expression and crackdown on anything deemed to be critical of the government, according to Sophie Richardson, the former China director at Human Rights Watch.

“[Chinese President] Xi Jinping and his government have clearly targeted a great deal of hostility at scholars,” Richardson told VOA at the bookstore. “Their books are regarded as potential threats, and so the party does what the party knows how to do, which is to send people into exile, to send them to jail, to shut down bookstores.”

China’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment for this story.

Gesturing at the throngs of people who were looking at books about everything from Chinese history to science, Richardson, who is now a visiting scholar at Stanford, added that there is a clear hunger for Chinese books.

“It’s amazing to see this clear demand for this kind of material in an environment where people can get it free of fear of persecution,” she said.

That’s another reason why Yu wanted to reopen the bookstore: It can be difficult to find Chinese-language books in the United States, he said. “And so, I think there must be many others that have the same concern,” he said.

When Jifeng Bookstore closed its doors in 2018, Yu never expected it to reopen.

“I thought it was closed, then its story ended,” Yu said. “I never imagined to reopen the bookstore.”

Now, JF Books has joined a rising number of independent Chinese bookstores that are being opened by members of the diaspora in cities around the world. They sell books and hold discussions about politics and history in a way that the Chinese government has stifled inside China.

JF Books already has scheduled three speakers for September. Howard Shen, a graduate student at Georgetown University, told VOA that he’s especially excited about the upcoming events.

“It’s such a big thing in the Chinese speaking community in D.C. We are all very excited to have this bookstore. It’s such a meaningful place for all Chinese in the world who love freedom,” said Shen, who is from Taiwan. 

One corner of the store features farewell messages that customers wrote back when the store was forced to shutter in 2018. Leading up to the bookstore’s second floor, photos on the wall memorialize the bookstore’s two-decade history in Shanghai. At the top of the staircase, photos show the bookstore’s final day in 2018.

“Jifeng Bookstore will soon depart from Shanghai,” the caption of one photo reads, “but the monsoon will continue to blow.”
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South Korea’s president skips opening ceremony of parliament amid political strife

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Seoul, South Korea — President Yoon Suk Yeol boycotted the formal opening of South Korea’s parliament Monday as his squabbles with the opposition deepen over allegations of wrongdoing by top officials and his wife.

It’s a tradition for South Korean presidents to deliver a speech at opening ceremonies for National Assembly sessions, and Yoon is the first to skip the event since the country’s transition from a military dictatorship to democracy in the late 1980s.

Yoon, a conservative who narrowly won the election in 2022, has struggled to navigate a parliament controlled by liberals who have stymied his agenda and called for investigations into allegations of corruption and abuse of power involving his wife and government officials.

President Yoon also faces declining approval ratings as concerns grow over his government’s ability to deal with a worsening job market, soaring household debt and a prolonged strike by thousands of doctors that is straining medical services.

Asked about his decision to skip the legislature’s opening ceremony, Yoon’s office said lawmakers must first “normalize the National Assembly, which over issues demands for special prosecutor investigations and impeachments,” before inviting Yoon.

A senior presidential official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity during a background briefing, said it was difficult for Yoon to attend when lawmakers were expected to greet him with “verbal abuse and picketing demonstrations.”

“They aren’t hesitating to call the president’s family member a murderer and conspiracies about martial law are continuing to circulate in the National Assembly,” she said.

Jo Seoung-lae, spokesperson of the main opposition Democratic Party, said Yoon’s refusal to attend the ceremony displayed his “arrogance” and disregard for the assembly’s role to check and balance the executive branch.

“It’s impossible to produce results in national governance without having respect for the National Assembly,” assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said during the opening ceremony as he lamented Yoon’s absence.

Following parliamentary elections in April in which the liberals extended their majority, the current assembly began meeting in May. But its official opening ceremony was delayed for months because of political bickering.

Opposition lawmakers are pushing for an investigation by special prosecutors into allegations that top government and military officials tried to cover up the circumstances surrounding the death of a marine who drowned during a search for flood victims in 2023.

They want another independent investigation into allegations that Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, was involved in stock price manipulation and violated the country’s antigraft law by receiving a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor. Yoon has denied any legal wrongdoing by his wife.

In August, Yoon’s office angrily demanded an apology after Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Hyun-heui labeled Kim as a “murderer” over the death of a senior official from the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, who was reportedly involved in the commission’s review of the handbag scandal.

Opposition lawmakers had raised suspicions on whether the commission was pressured into closing the review in June, when it concluded that the antigraft law provides no grounds for punishment for the spouses of public officials. The death of the former commission official, who was reportedly found with a note, is still being investigated.

Yoon in May and July rejected consecutive bills calling for special prosecutors to investigate the marine’s death, describing the allegations as groundless and politically motivated.

Yoon and his party also criticized the opposition’s move to hold a parliamentary hearing in July to address online petitions signed by tens of thousands calling for his impeachment. South Korea’s Constitution limits a president to a single five-year term, so Yoon cannot seek reelection.
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Gunfire heard in Congo’s main prison in Kinshasa during attempted jailbreak

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Kinshasa, DRC — Heavy gunfire rang out early Monday morning from Congo’s largest prison in the capital, Kinshasa, as inmates tried to break out from the overcrowded facility, authorities said.

Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya confirmed on X that there was an “an attempted escape.” Local media reported security forces killed some of those who tried to flee.

The gunfire from inside the prison started around midnight, residents said. By Monday morning, the road leading to the prison had been cordoned off by security forces.

“Security services are on site to restore order and security [and] the population of Kinshasa is urged not to panic,” Muyaya said.

Videos purporting to be from inside the prison showed several bodies on the ground.

The Makala prison, which is Congo’s main penitentiary with a capacity for 1,500 people, holds over 12,000 inmates most of whom are awaiting trial, Amnesty International said in its latest country report. It has recorded previous jailbreaks, including in 2017 when an attack by a religious sect freed dozens of inmates.

Authorities had been trying to reduce overcrowding, with dozens of inmates released in recent months.

There was no public comment about Monday’s incident yet from Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who is in China on an official visit.

Justice Minister Constant Mutamba called the attack a “premeditated act of sabotage” that was carried out against efforts to improve the condition of prisons.

“Investigations are underway to identify and severely punish those who instigated these acts of sabotage. They will receive a stern response,” Mutamba said.

The minister also announced a ban on the transfer of inmates from the prison and said authorities will build a new prison, among other efforts to reduce overcrowding.
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US prioritizes deterrence over denuclearization on North Korea, experts say 

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washington — As North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs become increasingly sophisticated, U.S.-based experts see the United States shifting the focus of its diplomacy from the pursuit of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to one of deterrence. 

Officially, the U.S. State Department insists that denuclearization remains the primary goal of the United States and South Korea, a policy that is unlikely to change regardless of the outcome of the November U.S. presidential election. 

But in a series of email interviews with VOA Korean, more than half a dozen experts said they saw scant hope that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could be persuaded to give up his growing nuclear arsenal and that the U.S. must concentrate instead on seeing that it is never used.  

“I think, in practical terms, most Americans believe we have little choice at this point but to prioritize deterrence, at least for the foreseeable future,” said Michael O’Hanlon, director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution in Washington, in an email to VOA Korean this week.  

Robert Peters, research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA Korean via email that American politicians on both sides of the political spectrum are questioning whether North Korea would even consider abandoning its nuclear weapons. 

“I think there is little appetite in either political party to seek denuclearization with North Korea, given the failures of the late 2010s,” Peters said, referring to the collapse of the nuclear talks between former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met three times in 2018 and 2019. 

“I think all sides recognize that Kim will not give up nuclear weapons at any price.”  

Shifting priorities 

Negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear program between Washington and Pyongyang have been nearly nonexistent since October 2019. 

Peters added, “Bottom line — without question, the ground has shifted regarding how we think about the North Korean nuclear threat.”  

Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said Washington’s shift in direction was inevitable. 

“The U.S. government has been forced to place more emphasis on deterrence over denuclearization because Kim Jong Un has shown no willingness to negotiate a nuclear deal or even meet with the U.S. to discuss denuclearization,” Samore told VOA Korean via email. 

“Instead, North Korea has continued to advance its nuclear and missile program, and the U.S. has responded by strengthening military cooperation with the ROK and Japan, including joint efforts to enhance extended deterrence.” 

ROK stands for Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea.  

Denuclearization of North Korea is now viewed in Washington as a “mission impossible,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation. 

“I think it is fair to say that the U.S. government is now more focused on deterrence, which is largely succeeding, than on denuclearization,” Bennett told VOA Korean via email. 

“This change does not mean that the U.S. and ROK have abandoned trying to negotiate for denuclearization, which North Korea steadfastly refuses to do, but rather that our governments no longer see denuclearization as a viable solution to the North Korean nuclear weapon threat.” 

Markus Garlauskas, director of the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, told VOA Korean via email it was “fully appropriate” that Washington has been paying more attention in recent years to deterring North Korean aggression than attempting to negotiate denuclearization. 

“I have long argued that Kim Jong Un does not intend to give up his nuclear weapons, that the nuclear weapons and missile capabilities of North Korea have grown and will continue to grow, meaning that we in the United States and its allies must adjust our strategy and policy accordingly,” he said. 

“We should not let hopes of negotiations get in the way of making tough decisions to improve deterrence,” added Garlauskas, who served as the U.S. national intelligence officer for North Korea from 2014 to 2020. 

He stressed, however, that “accepting the reality that North Korea is nuclear-armed and will remain so while under Kim Jong Un’s leadership” does not mean that the U.S. should or would give up denuclearization as a goal. 

“Our principled stand can and should remain that North Korea must comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions by halting its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and relinquishing its nuclear weapons, and I do think there is still broad agreement on that in Washington,” Garlauskas said. 

Commitment to denuclearization 

Sydney Seiler, who until last year was the national intelligence officer for North Korea on the U.S. National Intelligence Council, said the U.S. should keep denuclearization as a priority, adding that “denuclearization and deterrence are not mutually exclusive.” 

“We have a responsibility on a day-by-day basis to deter provocative actions, coercion, blackmail and even possible invasion by North Korea and have been doing so for the last 70 years of armistice,” said Seiler, who is now a senior adviser on Korean affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

“Successfully ensuring deterrence does not mean abandoning the goal of the denuclearization of North Korea,” he told VOA Korean via email. 

Robert Abrams, a retired U.S. Army four-star general who served as commander of U.S. Forces Korea from 2018 to 2021, emphasized that a strategy of deterrence should be clearly differentiated from the goal of denuclearization. 

“The U.S. strategic deterrent was never about stopping the North Korean regime from developing their own nukes,” Abrams told VOA Korean in an August 20 email. 

“Sanctions and diplomatic efforts were intended to stop North Korea’s nuclear program. The strategic deterrent is to deter North Korea from ever using nuclear weapons, and that has obviously been very successful.” 

Officially, Washington reiterates that denuclearization of North Korea remains a goal of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. 

“The United States and the ROK continue to pursue the shared objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA Korean via email this week. “We believe that the only effective way to reduce nuclear threats on the peninsula is by curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons.” 

But the spokesperson stressed that deterrence was also a crucial element of U.S. policy toward North Korea. 

“At the same time, the United States and the ROK will continue working together to strengthen extended deterrence in the face of increasingly aggressive DPRK rhetoric about its nuclear weapons program,” the spokesperson said. 

He added that the 16-month-old Washington Declaration “reinforces the fact that any nuclear attack by [North Korea] against [South Korea] will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response from the United States.” 

In April 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol adopted the Washington Declaration, which outlines a series of measures to deter North Korea’s nuclear weapons use.
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At US theme parks, Halloween celebrations start in summer

Posted on by SeeUS

los angeles, california — Halloween has arrived earlier than ever at major U.S. theme parks, as operators such as Disney, Six Flags, and Universal Studios seek to expand their reach and build on consumers’ love of spooky costumes and scares. 

Theme park operators have introduced a range of attractions, live performances, merchandise and food and beverages in August — before summer has ended and well before the October 31 holiday — to take advantage of the surging popularity of Halloween. These holiday-themed efforts come at a time when domestic theme park attendance has slumped, following a surge in demand after COVID.  

Edithann Ramey, chief marketing officer at Six Flags, told Reuters that the theme parks saw attendance gains and increases in guest spending in 2023 when it introduced attractions based on the horror films “SAW” and “The Conjuring.” 

The offerings were so successful that the theme park company has been investing more in Halloween experiences, Ramey said. 

“It’s become this time of the year that’s grown in explosive ways,” Ramey said. “It’s become a billion-dollar industry in the last five years.”

Jakob Wahl, chief executive for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, said Halloween has become one of the strongest selling points for parks that cater to young people and families.  

“We actually see a growth every year in terms of Halloween events, not only North America, but across the world,” Wahl said.  

Disney starts season in August

Walt Disney’s parks started the Halloween season earlier than ever this year with “Mickey’s Not So Scary Party” beginning on August 9 and running through the end of October.  

The Oogie Boogie Bash, a separately ticketed event named for the “Nightmare Before Christmas” villain, sold out this year in 11 days, Disney said. Its popularity prompted the company to push the release date to August 25 from September 5. 

“We’ve seen from our guests in years past that there’s a demand for them to come and enjoy that season with us,” said Tracy Halas, creative director of Disney Live Entertainment.  

Six Flags also kicks off Halloween early this year, on September 14, with a new experience called “Saw: Legacy of Terror” celebrating the 20th anniversary of the “SAW” horror movie franchise.  

Following the $8 billion merger of Six Flags and former rival Cedar Fair, which created the nation’s largest amusement park operator, with 42 parks across 17 states, Six Flags is increasing its investment in Halloween.  

That includes adding Hollywood-themed experiences to Six Flags Fright Fest based on Netflix’s science fiction series, “Stranger Things,” as well as horror films “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and “The Conjuring.”

Universal adds ‘Ghostbusters’ haunted house 

Comcast-owned Universal Studios 2024 Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando runs from August 30 to November 3, the longest season they’ve ever had. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. 

Universal is adding a “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” haunted house to its Halloween programming alongside the first attraction inspired by horror franchise, “A Quiet Place.”  

Universal also aims to attract guests at Universal Studios Japan with a new 4D show in collaboration with the anime television series “Chainsaw Man.”  

Both Universal Orlando and Japan will add cast members dressed as the antagonists called Death Eaters to haunt Diagon Alley during Horror Nights.  

Disney villain Cruella de Vil hosted a “Let’s Get Wicked” celebration at Hong Kong Disneyland in 2022, which received an industry award and returns this year.  
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Political power play or family ties? Views vary on Eswatini-Zuma marriage

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Mbabane, Eswatini — Eswatini’s King Mswati III’s plans to wed Nomcebo Zuma, the daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma, as his 16th wife. Political analysts dismiss the union’s geopolitical impact but see its potential in strengthening ties between the two leaders.

A royal delegation from Eswatini, also known as Swaziland, visited Jacob Zuma’s homestead at Nkandla in July in accordance with tradition, marking the start of Mswati’s marriage proposal to Zuma.

Political analyst Mandla Hlatshwayo sees this union as a strategic move, cementing economic and political interests.

“President Zuma’s role and capacity to be a major ambassador for Swaziland or the Swazi royal family is a noncontestable issue and has become even far more important in my view with the development or the emergence of MK [uMkhonto weSizwe] as a political party with President Zuma as its absolute president.” 

Sicelo Mngomezulu, a Swazi-born, South Africa-based lawyer, downplays the political impact of the marriage, arguing that Zuma’s diminished role in South African politics renders him unable to influence Swazi politics.

However, he foresees the marriage “strengthening bilateral relations between the king of Swaziland and the former president, as we know by now that the former president of South Africa and king are actually business partners in some shape or form … and so, we expect that part of their relationship will actually blossom.”

Zuma is expected to go on trial on multiple corruption and racketeering charges next April. He has pleaded not guilty.

Meanwhile, Mswati has been criticized for his controversial polygamy and lavish lifestyle. Former Eswatini lawmaker Mduduzi Simelane points out the king’s wedding will be expensive.

“Firstly, this high-profile wedding, with its steep dowry of 100 cattle and R2 million [2 million rands, or USD $113,300] and all the other hidden costs associated with a wedding of this nature, puts a significant strain on Swaziland’s economy. Secondly, within royal circles, this union has also been met with internal opposition among the royal wives. … This marriage will cause an uproar.”

Eswatini High Court lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi agrees that whether seen as a strategic union of two powerful families or a personal decision to extend influence and financial gain, the king’s marriage to Nomcebo Zuma will have a lasting impact on the two nations’ ties, for better or worse.
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Poland holds state burial for more than 700 victims of Nazi Germany’s World War II massacres

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Warsaw, Poland — Decades after they were killed, Poland held a state burial on Monday of the remains of more than 700 victims of Nazi Germany’s World War II mass executions that were recently uncovered in the so-called Valley of Death in the country’s north.

The observances in the town of Chojnice began with a funeral Mass at the basilica, leading to an interment with military honors at a local cemetery of the victims of the Nazi crimes. The remains were contained in 188 small wooden coffins with ribbons in national white and red colors across them.

Relatives of the victims, an aide to President Andrzej Duda, local authorities and top officials of the state National Remembrance Institute, which carried out and documented the exhumations, took part in the events.

“We want to give back memory, we want to give back dignity to the victims of the crimes in Chojnice,” presiding Bishop Ryszard Kasyna said.

Duda sent a message saying that the deaths weren’t in vain and will always be held in the national memory, because the only reason they were killed by the Nazis was the fact that they were Polish.

The remains of Polish civilians, including 218 asylum patients, were exhumed in 2021-2024 from a number of separate mass graves on the outskirts of Chojnice.

Personal belongings and documents helped identify around 120 of the victims of an execution in early 1945. Among them were teachers, priests, police officers, forestry and postal workers, and landowners.

Historians have established that the Nazis, shortly after invading Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, executed some of the civilians, in a drive to subdue the nation. The remains of another 500 victims are from the January 1945 execution, when the Germans were fleeing the area. Bullets and shells from handguns used by German forces were found in the graves.

Experts will continue to comb the area for more mass graves of the so-called Pomerania Crime.

Poland lost 6 million citizens, or a sixth of its population, of which 3 million were Jewish, in the war. The country also suffered huge losses to its infrastructure, industry and agriculture.
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China rolls out red carpet for African leaders

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Beijing — China rolled out the red carpet on Monday for leaders from across Africa, seeking to deepen ties with the resource-rich continent it has furnished with billions in loans for infrastructure and development.

Beijing has said this week’s China-Africa forum will be its largest diplomatic event since the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than a dozen leaders and delegations expected.

China has sent hundreds of thousands of workers to Africa to build its megaprojects while tapping the continent’s vast natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.  

Its huge loans have funded infrastructure but also stoked controversy by saddling countries with huge debts.

China, the world’s No. 2 economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $167.8 billion in the first half of this year, according to Chinese state media.

Security is tight across Beijing, with roads and bus stops bedecked with banners declaring China and Africa are “joining hands for a brighter future.”

Among the leaders in the capital is South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who arrived early on Monday for a four-day trip during which he will also visit the southern tech powerhouse city of Shenzhen.  

Trade between China and South Africa soared to $38.8 billion in 2023, according to the South African presidency.

Ramaphosa met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday, state news agency Xinhua said.

China and South Africa are expected to sign a number of agreements focused on “enhancing economic cooperation and the implementation of technical cooperation,” Ramaphosa’s office said.

Expanding influence

Xi also met Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday, state news agency Xinhua said.

China has a significant presence in the DRC, where it is keen on tapping vast natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.  

But it has grappled with security issues there. DRC sources told AFP in July that a militia attack on a mining site in gold-rich Ituri province killed at least four Chinese nationals.

Leaders of Djibouti — home to China’s first overseas military base — as well as Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Mali and others, also arrived in Beijing on Sunday and Monday.

Beijing’s loans to African nations last year were their highest in five years, research by the Chinese Loans to Africa Database found. Top borrowers were Angola, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya.

However, the data showed that loans were well down compared to highs in 2016, when they totaled almost $30 billion.

The loans were also increasingly to local banks, researchers said, helping to avoid “exposing Chinese creditors to credit risks associated with those countries”.

Analysts say an economic slowdown in China has made Beijing increasingly reluctant to shell out big sums.

This week’s summit comes as African leaders eye mounting great power competition between the United States and China over resources and influence on the continent.

 Washington has warned against what it sees as Beijing’s malign influence.

The White House said in 2022 China sought to “advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests (and) undermine transparency and openness.”
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Storm sets off floods and landslides in Philippines, leaving at least 9 dead 

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Manila — A storm set off landslides and unleashed pounding rains that flooded many northern Philippine areas overnight into Monday, leaving at least nine people dead and prompting authorities to suspend classes and government work in the densely populated capital region. 

Tropical Storm Yagi was blowing 115 kilometers northeast of Infanta town in Quezon province, southeast of Manila, by midday on Monday with sustained winds of up to 75 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 90 kilometers per hour, according to the weather bureau. 

The storm, locally called Enteng, was moving northwestward at 15 kilometers per hour near the eastern coast of the main northern region of Luzon, where the weather bureau warned of possible flash floods and landslides in mountainous provinces. 

A landslide hit two small shanties on a hillside in Antipolo city on Monday in Rizal province just to the west of the capital, killing at least three people, including a pregnant woman, disaster-mitigation officer Enrilito Bernardo Jr. 

Four other villagers drowned in swollen creeks, he said. 

National police spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo told reporters without elaborating that two other people died and 10 others were injured in landslides set off by the storm in the central Philippines. 

Two residents died in stormy weather in Naga city in eastern Camarines Sur province, where floodwaters swamped several communities, police said. Authorities were verifying if the deaths, including one caused by electrocution, were weather-related. 

Storm warnings were raised in a large swath of Luzon, the country’s most populous region, including in metropolitan Manila, where schools at all levels and most government work were suspended due to the storm. 

Along the crowded banks of Marikina River in the eastern fringes of the capital, a siren was sounded in the morning to warn thousands of residents to brace for evacuation in case the river water continues to rise and overflows due to heavy rains. 

In the provinces of Cavite, south of Manila, and Northern Samar, in the country’s central region, coast guard personnel used rubber boats and ropes to rescue and evacuate dozens of villagers who were engulfed in waist- to chest-high floods, the coast guard said. 

Sea travel was temporarily halted in several ports affected by the storm, stranding more than 3,300 ferry passengers and cargo workers, and several domestic flights were suspended due to the stormy weather. 

Downpours have also caused water to rise to near-spilling level in Ipo dam in Bulacan province, north of Manila, prompting authorities to schedule a release of a minimal amount of water later Monday that they say would not endanger villages downstream. 

About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago lies in the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone. 

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones in the world, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages, swept ships inland and displaced more than 5 million people in the central Philippines. 
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Norway’s electric car sales set new world record 

Posted on by SeeEU

Oslo — Electric car sales in Norway took a 94% share of the market in August — a new world record — statistics showed Monday, as sales in the rest of Europe stagnate.  

Boosted by the Tesla Model Y, which accounted for 18.8% of sales, and to a lesser extent Hyundai’s Kona and Nissan’s Leaf, electric vehicles made up 94.3% of new car registrations, the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) said.  

Norwegians bought 10,480 new EVs in August, bringing the total to 68,435 since the start of the year.  

Elsewhere in Europe high prices and insufficient infrastructure have hampered sales of EVs, whereas sales of hybrid models, which combine fossil fuel engines with electric batteries, have increased.  

The Scandinavian country, a major oil and gas producer, has set a target to sell only zero-emission vehicles by 2025, 10 years ahead of the EU goal.  

The country offers generous tax benefits which make electric models competitively priced.  

“No country in the world comes close to Norway in the electric car race,” OFV director Oyvind Solberg Thorsen said in a statement.  

“If this trend continues, we will soon be on our way to achieving our goal of 100% zero-emission cars by 2025,” he said.  

By comparison, electric cars represented 12.1% of new car sales in the EU in July, behind petrol cars at 33.4%, full hybrids at 32% and diesel cars at 12.6%, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. 
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Three Ukrainian teens begin their final year of high school holding onto hopes for the future

Posted on by SeeEU

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Paralympic triathlon events postponed for a day because of poor water quality in Seine river

Posted on by SeeEU

Paris — Paralympic triathlon competitions in Paris scheduled for Sunday were postponed for a day because of concerns about water quality in the Seine River after heavy rainfall, organizers said.

The 11 para triathlon events are now scheduled for Monday, the Paris 2024 organizing committee and World Triathlon said in a joint statement.

Rainstorms hit the French capital Friday and Saturday. Heavy rains cause wastewater and runoff to flow into the river, leading to a rise in bacteria levels including E. Coli.

“It rained a lot Friday and then it also rained Saturday. So the international federation and the organizing committee … out of a principle of precaution decided to delay all of the events for a day,” Paris Deputy Mayor Pierre Rabadan told reporters.

While organizers awaited new test results, Rabadan said “the trend is actually positive to being able to have the competition tomorrow morning.”

Late Sunday night, organizers confirmed the races would go ahead Monday, saying in a statement that new water testing results and monitoring ”indicate that water quality continues to improve and will be within the World Triathlon thresholds on race day.”

This was the second scheduled change for the para triathlon events. They had initially been scheduled to take place over two days, Sunday and Monday, but were moved to Sunday because of rain forecasts.

The disruption is another hiccup for the city’s efforts to clean up the river for future public swimming, one of Paris’ most ambitious promises ahead of hosting the Olympics and Paralympics this summer. The men’s individual triathlon event during the Paris Olympics was delayed and several test swims were canceled because of high E. coli levels after rainstorms.

Lazreg Benel-Hadj, vice president of the French Swimming Federation, said that while some of the 53 athletes who took part in Olympic swimming competitions in the Seine fell ill afterward, none of those illnesses “was linked to the water in the Seine.”

Rabadan reiterated that athletic events in the river would continue past the Paralympics.

“Yes, for sure, we will continue,” he said. “We’ll continue to have competition in the river. So many reasons for that. First one because athletes are happy with that, and second one because the quality of water will permit it in the future. So we will keep going on that way. And that’s a massive legacy of the games.”
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California lawmakers approve laws banning deepfakes, regulating AI

Posted on by SeeUS

Sacramento, California — California lawmakers approved a host of proposals this week aiming to regulate the artificial intelligence industry, combat deepfakes and protect workers from exploitation by the rapidly evolving technology.

The California Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, is voting on hundreds of bills during its final week of the session to send to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Their deadline is Saturday.

The Democratic governor has until Sept. 30 to sign the proposals, veto them or let them become law without his signature. Newsom signaled in July he will sign a proposal to crack down on election deepfakes but has not weighed in on other legislation.

He warned earlier this summer that overregulation could hurt the homegrown industry. In recent years, he often has cited the state’s budget troubles when rejecting legislation that he would otherwise support.

Here is a look at some of the AI bills lawmakers approved this year.

Combating deepfakes

Citing concerns over how AI tools are increasingly being used to trick voters and generate deepfake pornography of minors, California lawmakers approved several bills this week to crack down on the practice.

Lawmakers approved legislation to ban deepfakes related to elections and require large social media platforms to remove the deceptive material 120 days before Election Day and 60 days thereafter. Campaigns also would be required to publicly disclose if they’re running ads with materials altered by AI.

A pair of proposals would make it illegal to use AI tools to create images and videos of child sexual abuse. Current law does not allow district attorneys to go after people who possess or distribute AI-generated child sexual abuse images if they cannot prove the materials are depicting a real person.

Tech companies and social media platforms would be required to provide AI detection tools to users under another proposal.

Setting safety guardrails

California could become the first state in the nation to set sweeping safety measures on large AI models.

The legislation sent by lawmakers to the governor’s desk requires developers to start disclosing what data they use to train their models. The efforts aim to shed more light into how AI models work and prevent future catastrophic disasters.

Another measure would require the state to set safety protocols preventing risks and algorithmic discrimination before agencies could enter any contract involving AI models used to define decisions.

Protecting workers

Inspired by the monthslong Hollywood actors strike last year, lawmakers approved a proposal to protect workers, including voice actors and audiobook performers, from being replaced by their AI-generated clones. The measure mirrors language in the contract the SAG-AFTRA made with studios last December.

State and local agencies would be banned from using AI to replace workers at call centers under one of the proposals.

California also may create penalties for digitally cloning dead people without consent of their estates.

Keeping up with the technology

As corporations increasingly weave AI into Americans’ daily lives, state lawmakers also passed several bills to increase AI literacy.

One proposal would require a state working group to consider incorporating AI skills into math, science, history and social science curriculums. Another would develop guidelines on how schools could use AI in the classrooms.
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Pope to embark on most challenging Asia trip, with China watching

Posted on by SeeEU

Vatican City — If any evidence were needed to underscore that Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Asia and Oceania is the longest and most challenging of his pontificate, it’s that he’s bringing along his secretaries to help him navigate the four-country program while keeping up with work back home.

Francis will clock 32,814 kilometers by air during his Sept. 2-13 visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, far surpassing any of his previous 44 foreign trips and notching one of the longest papal trips ever, both in terms of days on the road and distances traveled.

That’s no small feat for a pope who turns 88 in December, uses a wheelchair, lost part of a lung to a respiratory infection as a young man and had to cancel his last foreign trip (to Dubai in November) on doctors’ orders.

But Francis is pushing ahead with this trip, originally planned for 2020 but postponed because of COVID-19. He’s bringing along his medical team of a doctor and two nurses and taking the usual health precautions on the ground. But in a novelty, he’s adding his personal secretaries into the traditional Vatican delegation of cardinals, bishops and security.

The long trip recalls the globetrotting travels of St. John Paul II, who visited all four destinations during his quarter-century pontificate, though East Timor was an occupied part of Indonesia at the time of his landmark 1989 trip.

By retracing John Paul’s steps, Francis is reinforcing the importance that Asia has for the Catholic Church, since it’s one of the few places where the church is growing in terms of baptized faithful and religious vocations. 

Here is a look at the trip and some of the issues that are likely to come up, with the Vatican’s relations with China ever-present in the background in a region where Beijing wields enormous influence.

Indonesia

Francis loves gestures of interfaith fraternity and harmony, and there could be no better symbol of religious tolerance at the start of his trip than the underground “Tunnel of Friendship” linking Indonesia’s main Istiqlal mosque to the country’s Catholic cathedral.

Francis will visit the underpass in central Jakarta with the grand imam, Nasaruddin Umar, before both partake in an interfaith gathering and sign a joint declaration.

Francis has made improving Christian-Muslim relations a priority, and has often used his foreign travels to promote his agenda of committing religious leaders to work for peace and tolerance, and renounce violence in God’s name.

Papua New Guinea

Francis was elected pope in 2013 largely on the strength of an extemporaneous speech he delivered to his fellow cardinals in which he said the Catholic Church needed to go to the “peripheries” to reach those who need God’s comfort the most. When Francis travels deep into the jungles of Papua New Guinea, he will be fulfilling one of the marching orders he set out for the future pope on the eve of his own election.

Few places are as remote and poverty wracked as Vanimo, a northern coastal town on the main island of New Guinea. There Francis will meet with missionaries from his native Argentina who are working to bring Christianity to a largely tribal people who still practice pagan traditions alongside the Catholic faith.

East Timor

When John Paul visited East Timor in 1989, he sought to console its overwhelmingly Catholic population who had suffered under Indonesia’s brutal and bloody occupation for 15 years.

“For many years now, you have experienced destruction and death as a result of conflict; You have known what it means to be the victims of hatred and struggle,” John Paul told the faithful during a seaside Mass.

East Timor emerged as an independent country in 2002, but still bears the trauma and scars of an occupation that left as many as 200,000 people dead — nearly a quarter of the population.

Francis will literally walk in John Paul’s footsteps when he celebrates Mass in Tasi-Toli, near Dili, the same seaside esplanade as that 1989 liturgy, which some see as a key date in the Timorese independence movement.

Another legacy that will confront Francis is that of the clergy sexual abuse scandal: Revered independence hero and Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo was secretly sanctioned by the Vatican in 2020 for sexually abusing young boys.

There is no word on whether Francis will refer to Belo, who is still revered in East Timor but has been barred by the Vatican from ever returning.

Singapore

Francis has used several of his foreign trips to send messages to China, be they direct telegrams of greetings when he flies through Chinese airspace or more indirect gestures of esteem, friendship and fraternity to the Chinese people when nearby.

Francis’ visit to Singapore, where three-quarters of the population is ethnically Chinese and Mandarin is an official language, will give him yet another opportunity to reach out to Beijing as the Vatican seeks improved ties for the sake of China’s estimated 12 million Catholics.

“It’s a faithful people, who lived through a lot and remained faithful,” Francis told the Chinese province of his Jesuit order in a recent interview.

The trip comes a month before the Vatican is set to renew a landmark 2018 agreement governing bishop nominations.

Just last week, the Vatican reported its “satisfaction” that China had officially recognized Tianjin Bishop Melchior Shi Hongzhen, who as far as the Vatican is concerned had taken over as bishop in 2019. The Holy See said China’s official recognition of him under civil law now was “a positive fruit of the dialogue established over the years between the Holy See and the Chinese government.”

But by arriving in Singapore, a regional economic powerhouse which maintains good relations with both China and the United States, Francis is also stepping into a protracted maritime dispute as China has grown increasingly assertive with its presence in the South China Sea.
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Ghana’s journalists on front line in battle against AI-generated deepfakes

Posted on by SeeAF

Bernard Avle hosts one of the biggest morning shows in Ghana. But scammers used artificial intelligence, or AI, to clone his voice to endorse a product. Analysts warn the same technology could be used to spread disinformation ahead of Ghana’s elections in December. For VOA News, Senanu Tord reports from Accra.
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5 key Chinese ‘Belt and Road’ projects underway in Africa

Posted on by SeeEA

Beijing — China has vowed to beef up its vast Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative, promising “high-quality cooperation” ahead of a summit with African leaders in Beijing starting Wednesday.

Africa is already a key Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) region, with Chinese companies signing contracts there worth more than $700 billion between 2013 and 2023, according to Beijing’s commerce ministry.

However, China’s investment in the continent has been slammed by critics who accuse the BRI of saddling countries with exorbitant debt or funding projects that damage the environment.

AFP looks at five key BRI projects in Africa:

Kenya’s incomplete railway

Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway — built with financing from Exim Bank of China — connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa. It has cut journey times from 10 hours to four since opening in 2017.

At $5 billion, it is the country’s most expensive infrastructure project since it won independence more than 60 years ago.

But a second phase meant to continue the line to Uganda never materialized as both countries struggled to pay down BRI debts.

The project was also beset with corruption allegations, and environmental campaigners have taken issue with the route, which cuts through a wildlife park.

Kenya’s President William Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled BRI construction projects.  

The country now owes China more than $8 billion.

Port facilities in Djibouti  

After China established its first permanent overseas naval base in Djibouti in 2016, it helped develop the east African country’s nearby Doraleh multi-purpose port.

The reportedly $590 million military base is strategically placed between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Beijing has said the base is used to resupply navy ships, support regional peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, and combat piracy, though its proximity to a U.S. military base has raised concerns of espionage.

Doraleh, meanwhile, is partly owned by China Merchants Port Holdings, but the conglomerate’s 23.5% stake raised eyebrows when it was awarded after the Djiboutian government seized control of the container terminal from UAE-based DP World.

DP World claims it was forced out to allow China Merchants to take over.

Africa’s longest suspension bridge

According to state broadcaster CCTV, BRI investment in Africa has helped build over 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) of road and railway track, around 20 ports, and more than 80 power facilities.

In Mozambique, China Road and Bridge Corporation built Africa’s longest suspension bridge, connecting the capital Maputo with its suburb of Katembe.

Previously, the quickest way across the Bay of Maputo was by ferry. Road travel required driving 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) on unpaved roads susceptible to flooding.

The bridge, which opened in 2018, cost an estimated $786 million, 95% of which was financed by Chinese loans.

But critics have suggested the project was overpriced and that interest rates on loans are excessive.

Minerals in Botswana and beyond

In recent years, BRI investment in Africa has shifted to mining the minerals needed to fuel China’s high-tech and green industries, such as electric vehicles.

In 2023, China invested $7.8 billion in mining in Africa, according to U.S.-based think tank the American Enterprise Institute.

That includes a $1.9 billion deal, reached last year, by state-owned MMG to buy the Khoemacau mine in Botswana, one of the world’s largest copper mines.

In July, Chinese firm JCHX Mining Management agreed to buy Zambia’s indebted Lubambe copper mine for just $2.

China has invested in cobalt and lithium mines in Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

But regional conflicts have proved an occasional barrier to Chinese investments. In July this year, authorities suspended all mining in part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, including where Chinese companies operate, to “restore order” there.

Coal and clean power

Chinese funding in Africa has included dozens of investments in power generation, leading to criticism of the BRI’s environmental impact.

In Kenya, Chinese companies were contracted in 2015 to build a coal-fired power plant close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lamu old town.

But Kenya’s government cancelled the project in 2020 after protests and opposition to its environmental impact.

In 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China would no longer support the construction of coal power plants abroad.

In July that year, Chinese funders pulled support from the $3 billion Sengwa coal project in Zimbabwe.

Instead, Chinese backers have funded the expansion of the country’s Kariba Hydroelectric Power Station, for $533 million.   

Chinese firms have accelerated investments in renewable energy projects. In Nigeria, Chinese loans are part-funding the $4.9 billion construction of the Mambilla hydroelectric plant, which will be the country’s largest power station.

A white paper issued by China’s State Council Information Office says the country will focus on using the BRI to support green transition projects.
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