Month: October 2024

Grace period for US student loan payments is over. Here’s what you need to know

Posted on by SeeUS

NEW YORK — The 12-month grace period for student loan borrowers ended on September 30. The “on-ramp” period helped borrowers who are struggling to make payments avoid the risk of defaulting and hurting their credit score.

“The end of the on-ramp period means the beginning of the potentially harsh consequences for student loan borrowers who are not able to make payments,” said Persis Yu, Deputy Executive Director at the Student Borrower Protection Center.

Around 43 million Americans have student loan debt, amounting to $1.5 trillion. Around eight million of those borrowers had enrolled in the SAVE plan, the newest income-driven repayment plan that extended the eligibility for borrowers to have affordable monthly student loan payments. However, this plan is currently on hold due to legal challenges.

With the on-ramp period and a separate program known as Fresh Start ending and the SAVE plan on hold, student loan borrowers who are struggling to afford their monthly payments have fewer options, added Yu. Student loan borrowers who haven’t been able to afford their monthly payments must consider their options to avoid going into default.

If you have student loans, here’s what you need to know.

What was the on-ramp period?

The Education Department implemented this grace period to ease the borrower’s transition to make payments after a three-year payment pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this year-long period, borrowers were encouraged to keep making payments since interest continued to accumulate.

“Normally, loans will default if you fall about nine months behind on making payments, but during this on-ramp period, missed payments would not move people towards defaulting and then being subject to forced collections. However, if you missed payments, you still be falling behind ultimately on repaying your loans,” said Abby Shaforth, director of National Consumer Law Center’s Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project.

Since this grace period has ended, student loan borrowers who don’t make payments will go delinquent or, if their loans are not paid for nine months, go into default.

Borrowers who cannot afford to make payments can apply for deferment or forbearance, which pause payments, though interest continues to accrue.

What happens if I don’t make my payments?

Borrowers who can’t or don’t pay risk delinquency and eventually default. That can badly hurt your credit rating and make you ineligible for additional aid and government benefits.

If a borrower missed one month’s payment, they will start receiving email notifications, said Shaforth. Once the loan hasn’t been paid for three months, loan servicers notify to the credit reporting agencies that the loan is delinquent, affecting your credit history. Once the borrower hasn’t paid the loan for nine months, the loan goes into default.

If you’re struggling to pay, advisers first encourage you to check if you qualify for an income-driven repayment plan, which determines your payments by looking at your expenses. You can see whether you qualify by visiting the Federal Student Aid website. If you’ve worked for a government agency or a non-profit organization, you could also be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which forgives student debt after 10 years.

What happens when a loan goes into default?

When you fall behind on a loan by 270 days — roughly nine months — the loan appears on your credit report as being in default.

Once a loan is in default, it goes into collections. This means the government can garnish wages (without a court order) to go towards paying back the loan, intercept tax refunds, and seize portions of Social Security checks and other benefit payments.

What if I can’t pay?

If your budget doesn’t allow you to resume payments, it’s important to know how to navigate the possibility of default and delinquency on a student loan. Both can hurt your credit rating, which would make you ineligible for additional aid.

If you’re in a short-term financial bind, you may qualify for deferment or forbearance — allowing you to temporarily suspend payment.

To determine whether deferment or forbearance are good options for you, you can contact your loan servicer. One thing to note: interest still accrues during deferment or forbearance. Both can also impact potential loan forgiveness options. Depending on the conditions of your deferment or forbearance, it may make sense to continue paying the interest during the payment suspension.

What is an income-driven repayment plan?

The U.S. Education Department offers several plans for repaying federal student loans. Under the standard plan, borrowers are charged a fixed monthly amount that ensures all their debt will be repaid after 10 years. But if borrowers have difficulty paying that amount, they can enroll in one of several plans that offer lower monthly payments based on income and family size. Those are known as income-driven repayment plans.

Income-driven options have been offered for years and generally cap monthly payments at 10% of a borrower’s discretionary income. If a borrower’s earnings are low enough, their bill is reduced to $0. And after 20 or 25 years, any remaining debt gets erased.

What is the latest with the SAVE program?

In August, the Supreme Court kept on hold the SAVE plan, the income-driven repayment plan that would have lowered payments for millions of borrowers, while lawsuits make their way through lower courts.

Eight million borrowers who had already enrolled in the SAVE plan don’t have to pay their monthly student loan bills until the court case is resolved. Debt that already had been forgiven under the plan was unaffected.

The next court hearing about this case will be held on October 15.

What happened with the Fresh Start program?

The Fresh Start program, which gave benefits to borrowers who were delinquent prior to the pandemic payment pause, also closed on September 30. During this limited program, student loan borrowers who were in default prior to the pandemic were given the opportunity to remove their loans from default, allowing them to enroll in income-driven payment plans, or apply for deferment, among other benefits.
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UK gives sovereignty of long-contested Chagos Islands to Mauritius 

Posted on by SeeAF

london — The British government agreed Thursday to hand sovereignty of the long-contested Chagos Islands, an archipelago of more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius, in a deal to secure the future of a strategically important U.K.-U.S. military base. 

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the agreement would secure the future of the base at Diego Garcia, the largest in the chain of remote islands off the tip of India that has been under British control for over 50 years. The base, which is home to about 2,500 personnel, mainly Americans, has been involved in military operations including the 2003 war in Iraq and the long-running war in Afghanistan. 

Britain’s Labour government said without the deal, the secure operation of the military base would be under threat, with contested sovereignty and legal challenges, including through various international courts and tribunals. 

“It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the U.K., as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner,” Lammy said. 

The agreement also paves the way for the potential return of the few people still alive who were forcibly displaced from their homes on the islands decades ago. 

As part of the deal, the U.K. will retain sovereignty of Diego Garcia for an initial period of 99 years and will pay Mauritius an undisclosed rent. It will also create a “resettlement” fund for displaced Chagossians aimed at letting them move back to the islands other than Diego Garcia. 

The Chagos Islands, which conjure up images of paradise with their lush vegetation and long stretches of white sandy beaches, have been at the heart of what Britain has called the British Indian Ocean Territory since 1965, when they were siphoned away from Mauritius, a former U.K. colony that gained independence three years later. Mauritius, which lies east of Madagascar in southern Africa, is around 2,100 kilometers (1,250 miles) southwest of the Chagos Islands. 

Following a lease agreement with Britain, the U.S. built the naval base at Diego Garcia for defense purposes in the 1970s. The U.S. has described the base as “an all but indispensable platform” for security operations in the Middle East, South Asia and East Africa. 

Around 1,500 inhabitants from the Chagos Islands were displaced to make way for the U.S. base, in what Human Rights Watch said last year amounted to “crimes against humanity committed by a colonial power against an indigenous people.” 

Chagossian Voices, a U.K.-based group representing the Chagossian diaspora around the world, voiced disappointment that the negotiations excluded those displaced. 

“Chagossians have learned this outcome from the media and remain powerless and voiceless in determining our own future and the future of our homeland,” it said in a statement on social media. “The views of Chagossians, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, have been consistently and deliberately ignored and we demand full inclusion in the drafting of the treaty.” 

The agreement will be included in a treaty and is dependent on legal processes being finalized. Both sides have committed to complete this as quickly as possible. 

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he spoke to his Mauritius counterpart, Pravind Jugnauth, on Thursday morning, welcoming the agreement after two years of negotiations that began under the previous Conservative government. 

“Fifty-six years after our independence, the decolonization is finally complete,” Jugnauth said in a televised address to the nation later Thursday. 

The Mauritius government said that the treaty would aim to resolve all outstanding issues related to the islands, including “its former inhabitants,” as well as addressing “the wrongs of the past.” 

It laid out the hope that those displaced who are still alive and their descendants, who are mainly living in the U.K., Mauritius and the Seychelles, would have a right to return, as it is now “free” to implement a resettlement program on the islands except Diego Garcia. 

It added that the U.K. will financially support the Chagossians, who have fought a long-running legal battle about their displacement, most recently in 2016 when they lost out in a Supreme Court ruling in the U.K. At the time, the previous Conservative government refused their right to return but voiced its “deep regret” for the way the Chagossian community had been mistreated in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Over the years, the Chagossians and Mauritius have garnered increasing international support, notably among African nations and within the United Nations. In 2019, in an advisory option that was nonbinding, the International Court of Justice ruled that the U.K. had unlawfully carved up Mauritius when it agreed to end colonial rule in the late 1960s. 

In a statement, the White House said President Joe Biden applauded the “historic agreement” on the status of the Chagos Islands. 

“The agreement secures the effective operation of the joint facility on Diego Garcia into the next century,” the statement said. 

In the U.K., Conservative lawmakers standing to be leader of Britain’s opposition party expressed dismay at the decision to hand over sovereignty of all but one of the islands. They were criticized for the comments, given that the previous Conservative government started the negotiations. 

One of the candidates, Tom Tugendhat, said he has consistently opposed any plan to hand over sovereignty of the islands and warned that the move could see Mauritius potentially leasing one of the islands to China. 

“This is a shameful retreat undermining our security and leaving our allies exposed,” he said.
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Tunisia’s president faces little challenge ahead of vote

Posted on by SeeAF

Tunisia holds presidential elections Sunday that seem certain to give incumbent Kais Saied another term in office, with his main rivals jailed, disqualified or otherwise sidelined. Is this the end of Tunisia’s fragile democracy? Lisa Bryant reports.
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Hurricane pushes climate change to forefront of presidential campaign

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene has brought climate change to the forefront of the presidential campaign after the issue lingered on the margins for months.

Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Georgia Wednesday to see hard-hit areas, two days after her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, was in the state and criticized the federal response to the storm, which has killed at least 200 people in the Southeast. Helene is the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

President Joe Biden toured some of the hardest-hit areas by helicopter on Wednesday and Thursday. Biden, who has frequently been called on to survey damage and console victims after tornadoes, wildfires, tropical storms and other natural disasters, traveled to the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia to get a closer look at the hurricane devastation.

“Storms are getting stronger and stronger,” Biden said Wednesday after surveying damage near Asheville, North Carolina. At least 70 people died in the state.

“Nobody can deny the impact of the climate crisis anymore,” Biden said at a briefing in Raleigh, North Carolina. “They must be brain dead if they do.”

Harris, meanwhile, hugged and huddled with a family Wednesday in hurricane-ravaged Augusta, Georgia.

“There is real pain and trauma that resulted because of this hurricane” and its aftermath, Harris said outside a storm-damaged house with downed trees in the yard.

“We are here for the long-haul,” she said.

Storm damage forces discussion

The focus on the storm — and its link to climate change — was notable after climate change was only lightly mentioned in two presidential debates this year. The candidates instead focused on abortion rights, the economy, immigration and other issues.

The hurricane featured prominently in Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate as Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz were asked about the storm and the larger issue of climate change.

Both men called the hurricane a tragedy and agreed on the need for a strong federal response. But it was Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who put the storm in the context of a warming climate.

“There’s no doubt this thing roared onto the scene faster and stronger than anything we’ve seen,” he said.

Bob Henson, a meteorologist and writer with Yale Climate Connections, said it was no surprise that Helene is pushing both the federal disaster response and human-caused climate change into the campaign conversation.

“Weather disasters are often overlooked as a factor in big elections,” he said. “Helene is a sprawling catastrophe, affecting millions of Americans. And it dovetails with several well-established links between hurricanes and climate change, including rapid intensification and intensified downpours.”

More than 40 trillion gallons of rain drenched the Southeast in the last week, an amount that if concentrated in North Carolina would cover the state in 3 1/2 feet of water. “That’s an astronomical amount of precipitation,” said Ed Clark, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Candidates make claims, counter claims

During Tuesday’s debate, Walz credited Vance for past statements acknowledging that climate change is a problem. But he noted that Trump has called climate change “a hoax” and joked that rising seas “would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in.”

Trump said in a speech Tuesday that “the planet has actually gotten little bit cooler recently,” adding: “Climate change covers everything.”

In fact, summer 2024 sweltered to Earth’s hottest on record, making it likely this year will end up as the warmest humanity has measured, according to the European climate service Copernicus. Global records were shattered just last year as human-caused climate change, with a temporary boost from an El Niño, keeps dialing up temperatures and extreme weather, scientists said.

Vance, an Ohio senator, said he and Trump support clean air, clean water and “want the environment to be cleaner and safer.” However, during Trump’s four years in office, he took a series of actions to roll back more than 100 environmental regulations.

Vance sidestepped a question about whether he agrees with Trump’s statement that climate change is a hoax. “What the president has said is that if the Democrats — in particular Kamala Harris and her leadership — really believe that climate change is serious, what they would be doing is more manufacturing and more energy production in the United States of America. And that’s not what they’re doing,” he said.

“This idea that carbon [dioxide] emissions drives all of the climate change. Well, let’s just say that’s true just for the sake of argument. So, we’re not arguing about weird science. If you believe that, what would you want to do?” Vance asked.

The answer, he said, is to “produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America, because we’re the cleanest economy in the entire world.”

Vance claimed that policies by Biden and Harris actually help China, because many solar panels, lithium-ion batteries and other materials used in renewable energy and electric vehicles are made in China and imported to the United States.

Walz rebutted that claim, noting that the Inflation Reduction Act, the Democrats’ signature climate law approved in 2022, includes the largest-ever investment in domestic clean energy production. The law, for which Harris cast the deciding vote, has created 200,000 jobs across the country, including in Ohio and Minnesota, Walz said. Vance was not in the Senate when the law was approved.

“We are producing more natural gas and more oil [in the United States] than we ever have,” Walz said. “We’re also producing more clean energy.”

The comment echoed a remark by Harris in last month’s presidential debate. The Biden-Harris administration has overseen “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil,” Harris said then.

While Biden rarely mentions it, domestic fossil fuel production under his administration is at an all-time high. Crude oil production averaged 12.9 million barrels a day last year, eclipsing a previous record set in 2019 under Trump, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Democrats want to continue investments in renewable energy such as wind and solar power — and not just because supporters of the Green New Deal want that, Walz said.

“My farmers know climate change is real. They’ve seen 500-year droughts, 500-year floods back-to-back. But what they’re doing is adapting,” he said.

“The solution for us is to continue to move forward, [accept] that climate change is real” and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, Walz said, adding that the administration is doing exactly that.

“We are seeing us becoming an energy superpower for the future, not just the current” time, he said.
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Florida communities hit by 3 hurricanes grapple with whether to rebuild

Posted on by SeeUS

HORSESHOE BEACH, Florida — It was just a month ago that Brooke Hiers left the state-issued emergency trailer where her family had lived since Hurricane Idalia slammed into her Gulf Coast fishing village of Horseshoe Beach in August 2023. 

Hiers and her husband, Clint, were still finishing the electrical work in the home they painstakingly rebuilt themselves, wiping out Clint’s savings to do so. They will never finish that wiring job. 

Hurricane Helene blew their newly renovated home off its 4-foot-high pilings, sending it floating into the neighbor’s yard next door. 

“You always think, ‘Oh, there’s no way it can happen again,'” Hiers said. “I don’t know if anybody’s ever experienced this in the history of hurricanes.” 

For the third time in 13 months, this windswept stretch of Florida’s Big Bend took a direct hit from a hurricane — a one-two-three punch to an 80-kilometer (50-mile) sliver of the state’s more than 13,500 kilometers (8,400 miles) of coastline, first by Idalia, then Hurricane Debby in August 2024 and now Helene. 

Hiers, who sits on Horseshoe Beach’s town council, said words like “unbelievable” are beginning to lose their meaning. 

“I’ve tried to use them all. Catastrophic. Devastating. Heartbreaking … none of that explains what happened here,” Hiers said. 

The back-to-back hits to Florida’s Big Bend are forcing residents to reckon with the true costs of living in an area under siege by storms that researchers say are becoming stronger because of climate change. 

The Hiers, like many others here, can’t afford homeowners insurance on their flood-prone houses, even if it were available. Residents who have watched their life savings get washed away multiple times are left with few choices — leave the communities where their families have lived for generations, pay tens of thousands of dollars to rebuild their houses on stilts as building codes require, or move into a recreational vehicle they can drive out of harm’s way. 

That’s if they can afford any of those things. The storm left many residents bunking with family or friends, sleeping in their cars or sheltering in what’s left of their collapsing homes. 

Janalea England wasn’t waiting for outside organizations to get aid to her friends and neighbors, turning her commercial fish market in the river town of Steinhatchee into a pop-up donation distribution center, just like she did after Hurricane Idalia. A row of folding tables was stacked with water, canned food, diapers, soap, clothes and shoes, a steady stream of residents coming and going. 

“I’ve never seen so many people homeless as what I have right now. Not in my community,” England said. “They have nowhere to go.” 

The sparsely populated Big Bend is known for its towering pine forests and pristine salt marshes that disappear into the horizon, a remote stretch of largely undeveloped coastline that’s mostly dodged the crush of condos, golf courses and souvenir strip malls that has carved up so much of the Sunshine State. 

This is a place where teachers, mill workers and housekeepers could still afford to live within walking distance of the Gulf’s white sand beaches. Or at least they used to, until a third successive hurricane blew their homes apart. 

Helene was so destructive, many residents don’t have a home left to clean up, escaping the storm with little more than the clothes on their backs, even losing their shoes to the surging tides. 

With marinas washed away, restaurants collapsed, and vacation homes blown apart, many commercial fishermen, servers and house cleaners lost their homes and their jobs on the same day. 

Those who worked at the local sawmill and paper mill, two bedrock employers in the area, were laid off in the past year too. Now a convoy of semi-trucks full of hurricane relief supplies have set up camp at the shuttered mill in the city of Perry. 

Hud Lilliott was a mill worker for 28 years, before losing his job and now his canal-front home in Dekle Beach, just down the street from the house where he grew up. 

Lilliott and his wife, Laurie, hope to rebuild their house there, but they don’t know how they’ll pay for it. And they’re worried the school in Steinhatchee where Laurie teaches first grade could become another casualty of the storm, as the county watches its tax base float away. 

“We’ve worked our whole lives, and we’re so close to where they say the ‘golden years,'” Laurie said. “It’s like you can see the light and it all goes dark.” 

Dave Beamer rebuilt his home in Steinhatchee after it was “totaled” by Hurricane Idalia, only to see it washed into the marsh a year later. 

“I don’t think I can do that again,” Beamer said. “Everybody’s changing their mind about how we’re going to live here.” 

Beamer plans to stay in this river town but will put his home on wheels. He says he’ll buy a camper and build a pole barn to park it under. 

In Horseshoe Beach, Hiers is waiting for a makeshift town hall to be delivered in the coming days, a double-wide trailer where they’ll offer what services they can for as long as they can. She and her husband are staying with their daughter, a 45-minute drive away. 

“You feel like this could be the end of things as you knew it. Of your town. Of your community,” Hiers said. “We just don’t even know how to recover at this point.” 
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Boston university relaunches journalism curriculum to encompass humanities

Posted on by SeeUS

Washington — As the fall semester begins, a women’s college in Boston, Massachusetts, has retooled its media-related curriculum to best reflect the ideals of the school’s namesake, the late journalist Gwen Ifill.

Simmons University announced it would relaunch the media school as the Gwen Ifill School of Media, Humanities and Social Sciences. A search committee also named media scholar Ammina Kothari as the new dean.

The Ifill School’s new structure expands its media curriculum to include humanities and social sciences. The attributes that defined Ifill also shape a new, holistic approach, “An unwavering commitment to accuracy and objectivity, a nuanced understanding of social and historical context and a compassion-based appreciation of policymaking’s real-world implications,” according to a Simmons press release.

“Folks here are very proud of Gwen’s legacy and want to honor it in many different ways,” said Bert Ifill, Gwen’s brother and a longtime university administrator.

A crucial component of the Ifill School is its emphasis on communications, a field Gwen excelled in, Bert told VOA.

After graduating from Simmons in 1977, she had long careers in both print and television journalism, working for The Baltimore Evening Sun, The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC and PBS. She covered seven presidential campaigns and died in 2016 at age 61.

Ifill was the first African American woman to moderate a vice presidential debate and to coanchor a national newscast, “PBS NewsHour.”

“Gwen valued storytelling, and she was an amazing journalist,” Kothari, the school’s new dean, told VOA. “But she also worked really hard to raise awareness about important social issues and to highlight underrepresented voices.”

Abigail Meyers, a current junior at the Ifill School, admires the journalist’s “groundbreaking work” in both journalism and racial justice, she told VOA. Raised near Baltimore, Maryland, Meyers feels a special connection to Ifill’s work for the Baltimore Evening Sun newspaper.

The school has been instrumental in supporting Meyers’ aspirations to become a professional journalist, she told VOA.

“The support that you get from the faculty and alumni is unlike really any other journalism program,” she said.

Being a double major in communications and political science, Meyers appreciates the new curriculum’s flexibility, as she is able to take classes across different disciplines.

This flexibility will help prime Simmons’ students to achieve success, Kothari said. She believes interdisciplinary training leads to stronger leaders in the world.

“As we think about communications or media, including journalism or social sciences, we need a strong foundation in humanities to understand the historical context for what we see happening today,” Kothari said.

The school’s increased focus on humanities “couldn’t be more timely,” according to the press release. Nearly three of four Americans believe media literacy is an important skill in today’s news landscape, a 2023 Boston University survey found.

However, humanities-focused degree programs like the Ifill School’s receive little recognition. Of all the bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2020, humanities degrees made up less than 10%, a number that has only been decreasing, according to a 2022 MIT study. Meanwhile, science, technology, engineering and math degrees, or STEM, have grown exponentially.

But humanities and STEM shouldn’t be seen as opposites, Kothari said.

She cited the COVID-19 pandemic response as an example. Many precautionary measures such as social distancing were grounded in “amazing scientific research,” but weren’t effectively communicated to the public, she said.

“As we have new knowledge being produced, we also need journalists,” Kothari said. “We need communicators who are able to translate very complex information to the audience so they can see, ‘How does it matter to me? What is the effect for me?’”

Ifill’s legacy is not only celebrated within her namesake school, but also through press freedom organizations around the world.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom nonprofit, honors Ifill with the annual Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, which is presented to individuals who have “shown extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom,” according to CPJ’s website.

Christophe Deloire, the late director of international media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, received the 2024 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award.

“Christophe was one of journalism’s greatest-ever champions,” RSF Executive Director Clayton Weimers told VOA in an email. “There was hardly a fight or an advance in press freedom in the past decade that he wasn’t a part of, if not leading.”

As Ifill’s legacy spreads, there is one person who couldn’t be prouder: her brother, Bert. He told VOA it often seems as though his full-time job is “to talk nicely about Gwen.”

“It’s always a great pleasure and honor for me to talk about her and to talk about her legacy, not only as obviously a very skilled journalist, but as an extraordinary mentor and confidant,” he said.
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In the Fast Lane: Chinese car imports grow in South Africa

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While China and the West have been pushing for more electric vehicles on the road, gas-powered cars still dominate in Africa. Chinese automakers are tapping into the South African car market, the largest on the continent, with prices so attractive that dealers say existing brands risk being pushed to the curb. Kate Bartlett has the details from Johannesburg.
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Beijing tests regional resolve in South China Sea amid Middle East conflict

Posted on by SeeEA

Taipei, Taiwan — As the United States and other like-minded countries hold joint military exercises in the South China Sea, Chinese vessels have been aggressively asserting Beijing’s territorial claims in the hotly contested waterway, testing the resolve of the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Last week on September 26, China used two missile boats and a high-intensity laser to disrupt an attempt by the Philippines to deliver supplies to local fishermen posted near the Half Moon Shoal, an atoll that lies within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ.

On Sunday, Chinese law enforcement reportedly attacked Vietnamese fishermen with iron pipes, confiscating fishing equipment near the Paracel Islands. 

And a new report by the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative released Tuesday highlighted how the Chinese coast guard vessels have been operating “like clockwork” this year in waters claimed by Malaysia as the resource-rich country tries to expand oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.

On Thursday, The Washington Post also reported that Chinese vessels have been disrupting the repair and construction of subsea cables running under the South China Sea. 

China emboldened

Analysts say these actions suggest Beijing is attempting to test regional countries’ resolves to safeguard their territorial claims at a time when the United States is fixated on the conflict in the Middle East.

“The serious crisis in the Middle East has emboldened China and allowed them to test the Americans further in the Indo-Pacific region,” said Collin Koh, a maritime security expert at the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

He added that Beijing is using physical actions and lawfare to try to change the situation in the South China Sea “altogether.”

The Philippines has characterized Beijing’s harassment of its vessels as “irresponsible, dangerous, and provocative,” while Hanoi said the attack on the Vietnamese fishermen violated its sovereignty and international law. 

China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request from VOA regarding the harassment of Philippine vessels.

Commenting on the attack on the fishermen, Beijing claims Chinese law enforcement forces were stopping Vietnamese fishermen from illegally fishing near the Paracel Islands, which China calls Xisha. The islands are an equal distance from China and Vietnam, but Beijing has maintained de facto control of the islands since it seized them in 1974 after a clash with Vietnamese forces.

In recent years, Beijing has reclaimed land and established military installations in the Paracel Islands, including an airstrip and artificial harbor.

New front

Koh told VOA that the incident near Half Moon Shoal, which comes after Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided twice near the disputed Sabina Shoal since August, shows Beijing may be “opening a new front” against Manila.

“The Philippines wants to apply the provisional agreement that they have reached with China over Second Thomas Shoal in July to the other contested reefs in the South China Sea, but I don’t think the Chinese are keen to expand the agreement throughout the region,” he said in a phone interview.

While the United States and other countries, including Australia, Japan and New Zealand, have been conducting more joint patrols in the South China Sea to counter China’s aggression, experts say that appears to have done little to thwart Beijing’s ability to challenge its neighbors in the region.

“There needs to be more concrete minilateral cooperation between regional countries like Vietnam and the Philippines, including joint military exercises, expansion of maritime domain awareness activities or search and rescue drills,” Stephen Nagy, a regional security expert at the International Christian University in Japan, told VOA by phone.

In January, Vietnam and the Philippines signed an agreement aimed at boosting cooperation between their coast guard forces to prevent incidents in the South China Sea. Then in August, Manila and Hanoi held their first joint coast guard drill, focusing on firefighting, rescue and medical response in Manila Bay.

In addition to bilateral cooperation between the Philippines and Vietnam, some regional observers say all Southeast Asian countries that have competing territorial claims with China in the South China Sea should explore the possibility of establishing a regional alliance.

Such a mechanism “could potentially evolve into a coast guard alliance specifically designed to address China’s actions in the region, and such a coalition would present a more formidable deterrent and could more effectively safeguard the interests of these nations in the South China Sea,” Duan Dang, a Vietnam-based maritime security analyst, told VOA in a written response.

However, he said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations “appears too weak and divided” on issues related to the South China Sea to present a united front.

As the U.S. and Japan both gear up for major elections in the coming weeks, Nagy thinks China is also trying to use this “window of opportunity” to try to “lock in some strategic gains” in the South China Sea.
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WHO launches plan to tackle growing threat of dengue, other diseases

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GENEVA  — The World Health Organization launched a global plan Thursday to address the growing threat of dengue and other deadly arboviruses, which have affected millions of people around the world and put billions more at risk.  

“The rapid spread of dengue and other arboviral diseases in recent years is an alarming trend that demands a coordinated response across sectors and across borders,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

An arbovirus is a virus that is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, ticks, or other arthropods, such as crustaceans, insects and arachnids.   

Dengue has emerged as the most problematic arbovirus disease. The WHO notes the number of cases has nearly doubled each year since 2021, with over 12.3 million cases at the end of August of this year, including more than 6,000 deaths. 

The WHO aims to “turn the tide” against dengue and arboviral diseases, Tedros said, noting that the measures in the proposal could “protect vulnerable populations and pave the way for a healthier future.” 

The WHO chief said everyone has a role to play in the fight against dengue, “from maintaining clean environments to supporting vector control and seeking and providing timely medical care.” 

“Factors such as unplanned urbanization and poor water, sanitation and hygiene practices, climate change and international travel, are facilitating the rapid geographical spread of dengue,” Dr. Raman Velayudhan, WHO unit head, global program on control of neglected tropical diseases, told journalists in Geneva Tuesday, in advance of the plan’s launch. 

“The disease is now endemic in more than 130 countries,” he said. “Similar trends are also observed for other arboviral diseases, such as Zika, chikungunya, and more recently, the Oropouche virus disease, especially in the Americas.” 

Dengue is endemic in tropical and subtropical climates, particularly in Southeast Asia, the Western Pacific and the Americas. The WHO says the majority of dengue cases, as well as several other arboviruses, have been reported from the American region this year.  

WHO officials say the situation is also of concern in Africa, “where countries are battling multiple diseases amid conflict and natural disasters,” placing additional strain on already fragile health systems. 

The Africa CDC reports more than 15,000 cases of dengue have been recorded in 13 African countries this year. 

“This global escalation underscores the urgent need for a robust strategy to mitigate risks and safeguard populations taking into account that urban centers are at greater risk,” Velayudhan said. 

Dengue is a viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people. Most people who get dengue get better in one to two weeks. However, some people who develop severe cases can die. 

According to the WHO, prevention is the best protection from dengue. It recommends people avoid mosquito bites, especially during the day, “by covering up.” 

Chikungunya, a virus spread by Aedes mosquitoes, has been reported in 118 countries, with the highest circulation found in Brazil.   

Dr. Diana Rojas Alvarez, team lead on arboviruses, epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention at the WHO, notes newborns, elderly and people with pre-existing conditions “have been identified as a risk factor for poor disease outcome.” 

Besides chikungunya, she said Zika and Oropouche, which are spreading widely in the Americas, have symptoms similar to dengue and “can be easily misdiagnosed in areas with co-circulation of multiple arboviruses.”   

To avoid misidentifying those diseases, she said it is critical for countries to strengthen their detection, surveillance, and testing activities and “to make sure populations know which measures to take to protect themselves and their communities.” 

The World Health Organization says the global escalation of arboviral diseases underscores the urgent need for “a robust strategy to mitigate risks and safeguard populations.” 

It urges governments to implement five components of its strategic global plan:  Emergency coordination activities, collaborative detection and surveillance, community protection and prevention measures, safe and scalable care to prevent illness and death, and access to countermeasures, such as the promotion of research for improved treatments and vaccines. 

The WHO estimates $55 million will be required to put the plan into action over the next year.  
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Trump, Harris stances on China differ, but not completely

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States’ policy on China has been mostly consistent from the administration of Donald Trump to the White House of Joe Biden — with both presidents viewing China as America’s biggest competitor. But in the race for the next president, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have slightly different approaches toward the global superpower. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee explains.
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Denmark jails 2 Swedish teens over blasts near Israeli Embassy

Posted on by SeeEU

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Two Swedish teenagers were jailed Thursday in pretrial detention in connection with two predawn explosions in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen a day earlier. Prosecutors said investigators were establishing “whether the motive could be a terror attack.”

No one was injured in the blasts on early Wednesday in a neighborhood with several foreign diplomatic missions, although the nearby Jewish school was closed following the explosions.

The pair, who cannot be identified under a court order, were ordered held for 27 days. They faced preliminary charges of possessing illegal weapons and carrying five hand grenades. Two of the grenades blew up when the suspects threw them at a house near the embassy, prosecutor Soren Harbo said.

“This was pretty close to the Israeli Embassy,” Harbo said before Thursday’s court hearing. The explosions caused damage to a roof terrace of a nearby house. The diplomatic mission was not harmed.

Thursday’s hearing was held behind closed doors after the preliminary charges were read. Reporting from inside the court room, Danish broadcaster DR said the teenagers, ages 16 and 19, are suspected of acting “in association and together with prior agreement with one or more perpetrators.”

Both denied the charges, local media reported.

The two suspects were arrested Wednesday shortly before noon on a train at Copenhagen’s central station. Danish media ran photos of a man in a white hazmat suit being taken away by police on a train platform at the station. A third suspect, age 19, who had been arrested near the embassy, has been released, police said Thursday.

In Denmark, the charges are one step short of formal charges and allow authorities to keep criminal suspects in custody during an investigation.

Separately, shots were fired late Tuesday at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm. No one was injured. No arrests have been made.

The Danish domestic security service, known by its acronym PET, said that “Swedish authorities have assessed that at least one specific act directed at the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, which was carried out by young criminals in Sweden, has links to Iran.”

In May the Swedish domestic security agency SAPO accused Iran of using established criminal networks in Sweden as a proxy to target Israeli or Jewish people. The announcement came after the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm was sealed off in late January after what was then described as “a dangerous object” was found on the grounds of the diplomatic mission. Swedish media said the object was a hand grenade.

In a statement, PET said, “If we have a state actor who gets young criminals to carry out actions aimed at Jewish targets in our neighboring country, then we can be concerned that this will also happen in Denmark.”

In Stockholm, the operative of Sweden’s domestic security agency SAPO, Fredrik Hallstrom, said, “The latest incident at the Israeli Embassy is not classified as a terrorist crime at the moment.”

His counterpart at the Swedish police’s National Operations Department, Johan Olsson, told the same press conference that the charges were of “aggravated weapons offenses, causing danger or other serious illegal threats and damage.”
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Georgian parliament speaker signs anti-LGBTQ+ law after president refuses to

Posted on by SeeEU

Tbilisi, Georgia — The speaker of the Georgian parliament signed into a law Thursday a bill that severely curtails LGBTQ+ rights in the country and mirrors legislation adopted in neighboring Russia.

Shalva Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, said on social media that the legislation does “not reflect current, temporary, changing ideas and ideologies, but is based on common sense, historical experience and centuries-old Christian, Georgian and European values.”

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili had refused to sign the bill and returned it to parliament on Wednesday. It was introduced by the governing Georgian Dream party and approved by lawmakers last month.

The bill includes bans on same-sex marriages, adoptions by same-sex couples and public endorsement and depictions of LGBTQ+ relations and people in the media. It also bans gender-affirming care and changing gender designations in official documents.

“This law protects the rights of all citizens, including freedom of expression, so that the rights of others are not violated, which is the essence and idea of true democracy,” Papuashvili wrote.

Parliament gave the legislation its final approval as Georgia, a largely conservative country where the Orthodox Church wields significant influence, prepares to vote in a parliamentary election. The law has been widely seen as an effort by the governing party to shore up support among conservative groups. It was decried by human rights advocates and LGBTQ+ activists, who said it further marginalized an already vulnerable community.

By signing the law, Georgian Dream “have taken homophobia to a new level, and that is political and institutional homophobia,” said Ana Tavadze, an activist with Tbilisi Pride, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

Georgian Dream’s aim is to “fabricate” problems ahead of the election to distract people from “their failure” to solve issues involving unemployment, education and healthcare, Tavadze told The Associated Press.

The law has drawn comparisons with Russia, where the Kremlin has been highlighting what it calls traditional family values. Russian authorities in the last decade have banned public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” and introduced laws against gender-affirming care, among other measures. Its Supreme Court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism by labeling what the authorities called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia as an extremist organization and banning it.

In Georgia, the LGBTQ+ community has struggled even before the legislation was introduced. Demonstrations and violent outbursts against LGBTQ+ people have been common, and last year hundreds of opponents of gay rights stormed an LGBTQ+ festival in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, forcing the event’s cancellation. This year, tens of thousands marched in Tbilisi to promote “traditional family values.”

A day after parliament gave its final approval to the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, transgender actor and model Kesaria Avramidze was stabbed to death in her apartment in Tbilisi. Rights advocates had worried that the bill would stoke more violence.

Papuashvili, the parliament speaker, said that by not signing the bill, President Zourabichvili and the Georgian opposition “did not have enough courage to openly express their opinion regarding this law.”

Some analysts say parts of the Georgian opposition are walking a fine line ahead of the Oct. 26 election between condemning the move to curtail LGBTQ+ rights and not wanting to alienate some voters.

Zourabichvili has long been at odds with the governing party and vetoed a “foreign influence” law adopted by parliament earlier this year. She was overridden by parliament, where Georgian Dream dominates.

The measure requires media and nongovernmental organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. It ignited weeks of protests and was widely criticized as threatening democratic freedoms. Those opposing the law compared it to similar legislation in Russia which is routinely used to suppress dissent, and accused the governing party of acting in concert with Moscow, jeopardizing Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.

The South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million formally applied to join the EU in 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the bloc halted its accession in response to the “foreign influence” law and froze some of its financial support. The United States imposed sanctions on dozens of Georgian officials in response to the law.

Georgian Dream was set up by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and served briefly as Georgia’s prime minister in 2012. It promised to restore civil rights and “reset” relations with Moscow, which fought a brief war with Georgia in 2008 over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian province, Abkhazia, and established military bases there.

Many Georgians backed Ukraine as Kyiv battled Russia’s invasion in 2022. But the Georgian government abstained from joining sanctions against Moscow, barred dozens of Kremlin critics from entering the country, and accused the West of trying to drag Georgia into open conflict with Russia. The opposition has accused the governing party of steering the country into Russia’s orbit to the detriment of its European aspirations.
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Russia to try American accused of being Ukrainian mercenary in secret

Posted on by SeeUS

MOSCOW — The trial of a 72-year-old American man whom Russia accuses of working as a mercenary for Ukraine will take place behind closed doors, and the verdict will be announced Monday, Russian state media reported.

Stephen Hubbard is accused of signing a $1,000-per-month contract with a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in the city of Izyum in February 2022. He was captured by Russian forces in April that year, and he faces a sentence of seven to 15 years if convicted.

The RIA news agency said the judge on Thursday accepted a prosecutor’s request to hold the proceedings in secret to ensure the safety of the participants. It was not clear why the prosecutor believed an open trial would have placed them at risk.

RIA said Hubbard himself supported the move, saying he did not want outsiders to be present. RIA reported earlier that he had pleaded guilty to the charges. Another state agency, TASS, said the verdict would come on October 7.

A U.S. embassy spokesperson said: “We are aware of reports of the arrest of an American citizen. Due to privacy restrictions, we are unable to comment any further.”

Prosecutors have said Hubbard was provided with training, weapons and ammunition when he allegedly signed up.

Hubbard’s sister Patricia Fox and another relative have cast doubt on his reported confession, saying he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have taken up arms at his age.

“He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that. … He’s more of a pacifist,” Fox told Reuters last month.

Hubbard is one of at least 10 U.S. nationals behind bars in Russia.
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EU to vote on tariff hike for Chinese EVs as Germany fears retaliation

Posted on by SeeEA

Vienna — The European Union is set to vote Friday on a massive tariff increase on Chinese electric vehicles that Germany fears could spark a trade war with Beijing.

Reuters reported Wednesday that the measure already has enough votes to pass, with support from France, Greece, Italy and Poland, whose populations make up 39% of the EU. At least 65% of the EU’s population must vote against the tariff plan to stop it.

Regardless, analysts say, continued negotiations will be needed on China’s subsidies to its EV industry.

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin called Chinese subsidies “unbearable.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday said talks with China must continue, and he indicated Germany might abstain from the vote.

“More trade with more partners from more countries — that’s what sensible risk management looks like in an uncertain world,” Scholz said, as reported by Reuters.

“That’s why negotiations with China on electric vehicles must continue and why we must finally tackle the areas where cheap Chinese imports are harming our economy, for example steel,” he said.

Bloomberg reported that Germany expected a significant number of EU states to abstain from voting on the tariffs.

German automakers are against tariffs, fearing that retaliation from Beijing could impact access to China, their largest market.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Wednesday “A trade war with China would do us more harm than good for a key European industry and a crucial sector in Germany.”

If the vote passes, it could see tariffs on Chinese EVs as high as 45%.

Beijing has hinted that it could retaliate with tariffs on German and Italian vehicles and on European agricultural products such as dairy, pork and French brandy.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao visited Europe in late September and met with officials and businesspeople in charge of foreign trade and commerce in the EU, Belgium, Germany, Italy and other auto-manufacturing countries to lobby the EU to abandon the tariffs.

During the negotiations, the Chinese side proposed to set a minimum import price, but the European side refused.

The vote was pushed from September 25 to Friday to allow time for more consultation between the two sides.

Analysts believe the EU may make some compromises due to the complex interests within the EU.

Ja Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, told VOA, “Because the EU is made up of many national entities with cross-cutting interests, these may lead to the vetoing of tougher action, much the same way ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is ineffective in the face of PRC (People’s Republic of China) pressure.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said during a visit to Beijing in early September that he would urge the European Commission to reconsider raising tariffs on China’s EVs.

Francesco Sisci, an Italian Sinologist, told VOA that the centrifugal forces of member states and political parties within the EU are too strong to make difficult decisions.

In the past, the EU “was ruled by a solid majority centered around People’s parties and Social-Democratic parties and a triangle made of Germany, France and Italy, Sisci said. “Both these two architectures are now partially shattered.”

“The People’s parties and Social-Democratic parties have still a majority but a thin one,” he said. “Italy, with a right leaning government, didn’t vote for the present President of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and it is dragging its feet on many EU policies.”

“Germany and France have governments at home that are under siege from new rightist parties,” he added.

Sisci told VOA Mandarin that Germany’s car industry “is dependent on the sales in the Chinese market and yet risks being squeezed out of all markets because of the Chinese EV competition. There are no good or clear alternatives.”

Although China’s EVs have a price advantage in the European market, Chinese businesspeople working in the automotive industry there are more cautious.

Yang is a Chinese businessman in Austria who does automobile maintenance, annual inspection and second-hand car trading. He did not give his full name because of privacy concerns.

Yang said that because of Europe’s economic downturn, consumers there are careful with their money and will not easily replace their gasoline-powered vehicles with all-electric vehicles.

“Many European consumers choose hybrid electric vehicles,” Yang said, talking about his own business. “This year’s data report shows that the sales of all-electric vehicles have decreased by one-third, while hybrid electric vehicles have increased.”

He said tariffs will certainly affect the price of Chinese electric vehicles in Europe, but European consumers are more concerned about other factors such as the life and endurance of the car.

“All-electric vehicles may not be a big market in Europe,” he said.

The EU’s vote comes after a probe into China’s subsidies for the industry and 100% tariff hikes on Chinese EV imports to the U.S. and Canada.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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In India, pride in Harris’s run for US presidency, but excitement missing

Posted on by SeeUS

NEW DELHI — In the small South Indian village of Thulasendrapuram, where U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s maternal grandfather once lived, locals and priests have prayed to the local deity at a Hindu temple for her victory as she runs for the U.S. presidency.

In the capital, New Delhi, many express pride that one of the candidates for the world’s most powerful office has Indian roots – she is the daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father.

But Harris has failed to enthuse others who feel she never built on her Indian connection during her vice presidency.

“It’s quite exciting for someone like me who is a common girl around town,” said New Delhi resident, Simran Singh.

Another city resident, Nandita Soni, and her husband watched Harris debate her opponent, former U.S. President Donald Trump, last month.

“I think she won hands down. Of course, there is a sense of pride for us. That she is, firstly, a woman and then of Indian heritage, feels really good,” Soni said.

Harris is not the only Indian connection to the American presidential race. Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance, is also the daughter of Indian immigrants.

Not many in India have heard of Usha Vance. Those who have, see it as a tribute to a country where immigrants can make a mark.

“I think both of them having a role in the elections is a very good thing for our Indian heritage and diaspora, but I think it is much more important for the American system,” said Shyam Bajpai, a retired professional. He praises Harris for “reviving the Democrat Party’s energy after a very difficult moment with Mr. Biden.”

However, the euphoria witnessed in India four years ago when Harris became vice president is missing. She hosted a luncheon for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year during his state visit to Washington, where she spoke of her deep personal connection to India. In interviews she has said that her introduction to the concepts of equality, freedom and democracy came from her Indian grandfather during her visits to her maternal family’s hometown, Chennai, when she was young.

But some point out that she neither visited India during her tenure as vice president nor emphasized her Indian identity much while in office.

“To be honest we did not hear much of her in India, because as vice president, her connections with India were not all that great,” said Pradeep Bhargava, a New Delhi resident. “We were not getting much news about her.”

That may be why many young Indians ask: Who is Kamala Harris?

“I think she is not on social media,” said Simar Kaur, an undergraduate student in Delhi University. “I get most of the news from social media only.”

But IT professionals who have long eyed the United States for career opportunities are excited about the possibility of an American president with roots in India. “I am sure this will help in more job opportunities for Indians in the future,” said software engineer Vishal Chabra. “It will be good for India as well.”

Those who are tracking the U.S. race see Harris’s bid as another huge milestone for its diaspora in Western countries — Rishi Sunak, who became British Prime Minister in 2022 but lost in July, was also of Indian origin. They also point to the success of Indian Americans who have risen to the top of the corporate ladder in the U.S., heading companies like Google.

“With UK also and now America, Indians are all the way, and it is the way to go from them,” said Soni.

 
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