Month: February 2025

US, El Salvador reach ‘unprecedented’ deal to curb illegal immigration

Posted on by SeeUS

STATE DEPARTMENT — The United States and El Salvador have reached what U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called “the most unprecedented and extraordinary” deal to further curb illegal immigration.

After about three hours of meetings with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at his residence in Lake Coatepeque, San Salvador, Rubio said that Bukele has offered to house dangerous American criminals in Salvadoran jails, including U.S. citizens and legal residents.

Bukele has also “agreed to accept for deportation any illegal aliens in the United States” who are criminals, regardless of nationality, in addition to fully cooperating on the repatriation of Salvadorans who are in the United States illegally, Rubio told reporters.

Rubio visited El Salvador on Monday to address illegal migration and other strategic issues.

The State Department said Rubio also raised strategies to counter the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the Western Hemisphere to safeguard the sovereignty and interests of both nations and the region.

His visit comes amid the restructuring of a U.S. agency overseeing foreign aid, which has sparked a showdown between congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump’s administration.

Rubio announced that he is now the acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development but has delegated his authority to another official. He stressed that the agency must align U.S. foreign aid with national interests and comply with State Department policy directives.

Late Monday, the United States and El Salvador also signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, on civil nuclear cooperation, expanding strategic relations between the two nations.

The State Department said the MOU marks an initial step toward building a robust civil nuclear partnership, aiming to enhance energy security and foster economic cooperation.

Curtailing illegal immigration

Bukele is regarded as a key ally of the United States in its regional efforts to address the migration crisis.

On Oct. 7, 2024, the United States and El Salvador signed a Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement, further strengthening border security and facilitating trade between the two countries.

El Salvador was once the third-largest source of nationals captured at the U.S. southwest border. Today, it no longer ranks among the top 10.

Chinese influence

U.S. President Trump has maintained warm relations with Salvadoran President Bukele, who also strengthened ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping following his state visit to Beijing in December 2019.

During Bukele’s visit, China promised millions in development projects for the Central American country through a series of agreements. Among them were a soccer stadium, a national library, a tourist pier, and funding for water treatment improvements.

In April 2024, China and El Salvador began negotiations on a free trade agreement, though the United States remains El Salvador’s primary trading partner.

El Salvador formally recognized the People’s Republic of China on Aug. 21, 2018, severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Panama

Earlier Monday, Rubio observed a U.S.-funded deportation flight departing from Albrook International Airport in Panama, returning dozens of undocumented Colombians to their home country. A total of 32 men and 11 women were repatriated, including seven individuals with criminal records.

The top U.S. diplomat said it sent “a clear message” that people who sought to enter the U.S. border irregularly would be stopped and sent back to their countries of origin.

On July 1, 2024, the first day of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino’s term, the U.S. and Panama signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at jointly reducing the number of migrants illegally crossing through Panama’s Darién region en route to the United States.

The program is funded by the U.S. State Department and implemented by the Department of Homeland Security. Monday’s deportation was carried out under the MOU and following a State Department waiver that lifted a previous pause on U.S. foreign aid.

“This is an effective way to stem the flow of illegal migration, of mass migration, which is destructive and destabilizing,” Rubio told reporters at the Albrook International Airport.

“This flight today was possible due to a waiver that we’ve issued,” he added. “We’re going to issue a broader one to continue this cooperation.”

Under the 2024 MOU, the United States has provided nearly $2.7 million to fund flights and tickets to repatriate migrants to their countries of origin.

Since the first repatriation flight on August 20, 2024, over 40 charter flights have been conducted from Panama to more than 14 countries, returning more than 1,700 undocumented migrants. Destinations have included Colombia, Ecuador, India, and Vietnam.

Panama recently reported a 90% decrease in migrants crossing the Darién region compared to the same period last year.

Canal controversy

On Sunday, Rubio warned Panama that Washington will “take necessary measures” if Panama does not take immediate steps to end what U.S. President Donald Trump described as China’s “influence and control” over the Panama Canal.

“Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement after Rubio’s talks with Mulino.

Mulino also announced that Panama has decided not to renew a 2017 memorandum with China on Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and will seek to void agreements with the Chinese government before their official expiration dates.

“We’ll study the possibility of terminating it early,” Mulino added on Sunday.

The Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, is a massive infrastructure project launched by China in 2013 under President Xi Jinping, aiming to connect multiple continents through land and maritime routes. The United States has cautioned that the BRI “is fueled by China’s mission to manipulate and undermine the global rules-based trading system for its own benefit.”

At the United Nations, Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong dismissed the accusations against China as “totally false” and “pointless.” He said that China has never participated in the management or operation of the Panama Canal nor interfered in its affairs. He also reaffirmed respect for Panama’s sovereignty and the canal’s status as a neutral international gateway.

The Chinese ambassador further called Panama’s decision not to renew the BRI agreement “regrettable.”

After visiting Panama and El Salvador, Rubio will travel to Costa Rica on Tuesday, followed by stops in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
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Scientists hope these tiny froglets can save their species

Posted on by SeeEU

LONDON — It was quite the journey for such tiny froglets: traveling thousands of miles from the forests of southern Chile to London, carried and brooded inside their fathers’ vocal sacs for safety.

London Zoo said Monday that 33 endangered Darwin’s frogs, named after scientist Charles Darwin, who discovered the species, were born in their new home as part of a rescue mission to save the species from extinction.

Known populations of Darwin’s frogs have suffered a 90% decline within a year since a deadly disease known as chytrid fungus arrived in 2023 in their habitat, the Parque Tantauco forests in southern Chile. The fungus has affected hundreds of amphibian species around the world.

The creatures have a unique reproductive strategy: after the females lay eggs, the male frogs protect and rear the tiny tadpoles inside their distensible vocal sacs for them to develop in safety.

A team of conservationists traveled to Chile’s forests in October in search of healthy Darwin’s frogs free of the infectious disease. They collected 52 frogs, which were then placed in climate-controlled boxes for a 11,265-kilometer ride by boat, car and plane to their new home in London.

Of the group, 11 male frogs — each measuring under 3 centimeters — carried 33 tadpoles that were born at the zoo.

“We knew we were embarking on something special — the clock was ticking, and we needed to act quickly if we were going to save these frogs,” said Ben Tapley, curator of amphibians at London Zoo.

He said the successful parent-rearing of the froglets was a “powerful symbol of hope for the species.”

The frogs are now kept in pairs inside dozens of glass tanks filled with moss and with temperatures that mimic their natural habitat. Keepers said the zoo will set up a breeding program for them, and any frogs they breed may later be reintroduced into the wild.

Andres Valenzuela-Sanchez, a researcher at ZSL, the conservation charity behind London Zoo, said the project will ensure the species has a fighting chance of recovery.

“These frogs are not only vital for the future of their species but also help us better understand how we can combat chytrid fungus and safeguard other amphibians globally,” he said.
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Australia hits right-wing online network ‘Terrorgram’ with sanctions

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Sydney — Australia on Monday imposed sanctions on extreme right-wing online network “Terrorgram” as part of its efforts to combat a rise in antisemitism and online extremism, following similar moves by Britain and the United States. 

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government’s action would make it a criminal offense to engage with “Terrorgram” and help prevent children from becoming caught up in far-right extremism. 

“Terrorgram is an online network that promotes white supremacy and racially-motivated violence,” Wong said in a statement. 

“It is the first time any Australian Government has imposed counterterrorism financing sanctions on an entity based entirely online.” 

Offenders will face up to 10 years in jail and heavy fines, she said. 

The Australian government also renewed sanctions on four right-wing groups: the National Socialist Order, the Russian Imperial Movement, Sonnenkrieg Division and The Base, Wong said. 

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration in January designated “Terrorgram,” which primarily operates on the Telegram social media site, accusing it of promoting violent white supremacy. Britain in April made it a criminal offense in the country to belong to or promote the group. 

In a statement, Telegram said calls to violence have no place on its platform. 

“Moderators removed several channels that used variations of the ‘Terrorgram’ name when they were discovered years ago. Similar content is banned whenever it appears,” it said. 

Australia has also seen an escalating series of attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, sparking fear among Australia’s nearly 115,000 Jewish people. 

Police last week arrested members of a neo-Nazi group in the South Australian city of Adelaide when the country marked its National Day and charged a man for displaying a Nazi symbol.
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Tariff threats take aim at fentanyl trafficking; here’s how drug reaches US

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President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China is partly aimed at combating the illicit flow of fentanyl into the U.S., where the opioid is blamed for some 70,000 overdose deaths annually. 

Mexico agreed Monday to send 10,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border as part of a deal with Trump to pause the tariffs for a month — and hold off levying its own. 

Neither Canada nor China has signaled major changes to tackle the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., and each has said it would retaliate for any U.S. tariffs. 

What role do Mexico, Canada and China play in fentanyl reaching the U.S.? And how much can their governments do? 

Where does fentanyl come from? 

The ingredients in fentanyl are largely produced by companies in China and used by pharmaceutical companies to make legal painkillers. But a portion of those chemicals is purchased by the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels in Mexico. 

Cartels make the synthetic opioid in labs and then smuggle it into the U.S., largely at official land crossings in California and Arizona. The small amounts of fentanyl in any shipment — the drug is 50 times more potent than heroin — and its lack of odor make detection and seizures extremely challenging. 

Fentanyl is also made in Canada and smuggled into the U.S., but to a much lesser extent. U.S. customs agents seized 19.5 kilograms (43 pounds) of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the last fiscal year, compared with 9,570 kilograms (21,100 pounds) at the Mexican border. 

Seizures of fentanyl jumped by as much as tenfold under President Joe Biden, an increase that may reflect improved detection. 

What changed after Trump threatened tariffs? 

Mexico announced in December the seizure of more than a ton of fentanyl pills in what it described as the largest bust of synthetic opioids in the country’s history. The haul was striking because fentanyl seizures in Mexico had fallen dramatically in the first half of 2024. 

Under President Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office in October, Mexico’s security forces appear to be far more aggressive than they were under her predecessor. Former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denied that fentanyl was even produced in Mexico, contradicting officials in his own administration. 

To pause the tit-for-tat tariffs, Mexico agreed to immediately deploy 10,000 National Guard troops to the border to battle drug-trafficking, while the U.S. committed to do more to stop the trafficking of guns into Mexico, said Trump and Sheinbaum on social media. 

Facing tariff threats, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has highlighted his country’s recent $1.3 billion investment in border enforcement, including chemical detection tools at entry ports and a new unit focused on the oversight of precursor chemicals. 

Once Trump ordered the tariffs, Trudeau rebuked the move. 

“We, too, are devastated by the scourge that is fentanyl,” Trudeau said at a press conference Sunday. “As neighbors, we must work collaboratively to fix this. Unfortunately, the actions taken today by the White House split us apart instead of bringing us together.” 

China defended its efforts to combat fentanyl in what has been years of touch-and-go cooperation with the U.S. China doesn’t have the same fentanyl crisis among its own population, and doesn’t view it as a priority, said Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. 

How much can Mexico, Canada and China do? 

Combating the production and movement of illicit fentanyl is particularly challenging. 

Unlike heroin and cocaine, which are produced from plants, fentanyl is made with ingredients used for legal pharmaceutical drugs, and can be made in cheap labs that can be erected relatively quickly. And despite the dangers, demand in the U.S. for the highly addictive drug remains strong. 

Mike Vigil, the former chief of international operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, said he was skeptical that Mexico’s extra troops at the border on their own would make much of a dent in trafficking. 

Once fentanyl leaves the labs, it’s usually well concealed in hidden compartments of vehicles or in huge cargo trucks; better detection technology is crucial, in addition to more troops, he said. The other challenge, Vigil said, is that combating the fentanyl trade will likely require more than just collaboration between the U.S. and its neighbors. 

“Even if Mexico, Canada and these other countries snap their fingers and did away with the drug trade, as long as we have that demand, there will be another country that will satisfy that demand.”
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Uganda begins Ebola vaccine trial

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Uganda began a vaccine trial Monday against the Sudan strain of Ebola that has killed one person in the outbreak declared last week.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday in a post on the X social media platform that the trial was “initiated with record speed, only three days since the outbreak was declared, while ensuring full compliance with international and national regulatory and ethical requirements.”

Officials have not identified the vaccine manufacturer that is providing the East African country with access to more than 2,000 doses of the candidate vaccine.

WHO is supporting Uganda’s response to the outbreak with a $1 million allocation from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies.

So far, there has been only one death attributed to the virus — a nurse who worked at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. Two more cases were confirmed on Monday. The Associated Press reported they were members of the nurse’s family.

The nurse sought treatment at several hospitals and had also consulted with a traditional healer before tests confirmed an Ebola diagnosis, according to authorities.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa said in a statement after the outbreak was confirmed, “We welcome the prompt declaration of this outbreak, and as a comprehensive response is being established, we are supporting the government and partners to scale up measures to quicky identify cases, isolate and provide care, curb the spread of the virus and protect the population.”

Uganda’s Health Ministry has identified at least 234 of the nurse’s contacts, according to the AP. Containing the virus could prove challenging in Kampala with its population of 4 million people.

The symptoms of Ebola, an often-fatal disease, include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health care workers and family members caring for someone with Ebola are at high risk for contracting the disease.

WHO said Ebola “is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and with surfaces and materials (e.g., bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.”

Ebola’s fatality rate is around 50%, WHO said on its website, but it also said that fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in some outbreaks.

The outbreak in Uganda is the first Ebola outbreak since U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

Some information was provided by The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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Multiple earthquakes rattling Greece’s volcanic island of Santorini

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Multiple earthquakes are rattling Santorini, a volcanic island in Greece, prompting authorities to dispatch rescuers with tents, a sniffer dog and drones, and to shut schools on four islands.

Residents have been warned to avoid indoor gatherings, check escape routes, stay away from cliffs and to drain swimming pools to reduce potential structural damage to buildings in the event of a large earthquake.

Greece lies in a highly seismically active part of the world, and earthquakes are frequent. The vast majority cause no injuries and little or no damage, but the country has also seen deadly quakes. Earthquakes can’t be predicted, but authorities are taking measures as a precaution.

Santorini, one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations, took its present crescent shape following a massive volcanic eruption in antiquity. Now, millions of visitors each year come to see its dramatic scenery of whitewashed houses and blue-domed churches clinging to the cliff along the flooded caldera, or volcanic crater.

Last week, scientists said they had noticed increased volcanic activity in the caldera but say this isn’t linked to the earthquakes.

Here’s a look at the current situation:

What’s going on?

About 200 quakes with magnitudes between 3 and 4.9 were registered from Saturday to Monday afternoon between Santorini and the nearby island of Amorgos, authorities said.

Seismologist Gerasimos Papadopoulos said on Greece’s ERT television that the seismic activity began on Jan. 24, but intensified Saturday, with increasing frequency and magnitudes.

The fault line producing the current earthquakes runs for about 120 kilometers (75 miles), but only the southern part between Santorini and Amorgos has been activated. The earthquakes have epicenters beneath the seabed, roughly 30-40 kilometers (18-25 miles) from any of the islands. Scientists say this is good news, as an epicenter beneath land could potentially be more destructive. But a large quake could also trigger a tsunami, so authorities have warned people to stay away from coastal areas and head inland if they feel a significant earthquake.

So far, there has been no damage or injuries reported, although some rockslides have occurred.

Could the earthquakes trigger a volcanic eruption?

Santorini lies along the Hellenic Volcanic Arc, which stretches from the Peloponnese in southern Greece through the Cycladic islands.

Last Wednesday, Greece’s Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry announced monitoring sensors had picked up “mild seismic-volcanic activity” inside the island’s caldera. Similar volcanic activity had been recorded in 2011, when it lasted for 14 months and ended without any major issues.

Another volcano — a submarine one called Kolumbo — lies about 8 kilometers (5 miles) northeast of Santorini, nearer to the epicenter of the current earthquakes.

But seismologists say the quakes aren’t related to the volcanoes.

A meeting between government officials and scientists determined that seismic activity within Santorini’s caldera “remains at the same low levels as in recent days,” the Civil Protection Ministry said Monday, but that it was “particularly increased” between Santorini and Amorgos.

What worries authorities?

Scientists are still trying to determine definitively whether the multiple quakes are foreshocks — smaller earthquakes before a major temblor. Papadopoulos said that there was a “high probability” they are.

Santorini’s main villages are built along the rim of the volcano’s caldera — producing the dramatic scenery of cascading whitewashed houses and sunset viewpoints that make the island so popular but also raising concerns in the event of a major earthquake. The sheer cliffs also make some areas prone to rockslides.

What precautions are being taken?

Authorities sent a team of rescuers with a sniffer dog and drones to Santorini, where they set up tents in a basketball court next to the island’s main hospital as a staging area. Push alerts have been sent to cellphones warning people to stay away from areas where rockslides could occur and banning access to some coastal areas.

Residents and hotels have been asked to drain swimming pools, as the water movement in a major quake could destabilize buildings. People have been told to avoid old buildings and check for exit routes when in built-up areas.

Schools on Santorini, as well as the nearby islands of Anafi, Amorgos and Ios, will remain shut all week.

What’s the history?

The fault line that has been activated was the site of Greece’s largest quake in the last century: a 7.7 magnitude temblor dubbed the Amorgos earthquake that struck in 1956, triggering a roughly 20-meter (65-foot) tsunami, causing significant damage in Amorgos and Santorini and killing more than 50 people.

Santorini is also the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. Known as the Minoan eruption, it occurred around 1,600 B.C. and destroyed much of the formerly round island, giving Santorini its current shape. The eruption is believed to have contributed to the decline of the ancient Minoan civilization.

Although it’s still an active volcano, the last notable eruption occurred in 1950.
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Sudan fighting escalates; at least 65 killed

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Port Sudan, Sudan — Fierce fighting in south and west Sudan killed at least 65 people and wounded more than 130 Monday, medics said, as the devastating war between the army and paramilitary forces rages on.

In South Kordofan, artillery fire on the state capital Kadugli killed at least 40 people and wounded 70, according to two medical sources.

The city, controlled by the Sudanese army, was targeted in an attack that Governor Mohamed Ibrahim blamed on a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, which also maintains a foothold in the state.

“Hilu’s attack on civilians in Kadugli aims to destabilize” the area, Ibrahim said in a statement to AFP, vowing to “clear the mountains around Kadugli” of rebel forces.

The governor said that the shelling targeted a local market.

SPLM-N has clashed with both the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in different parts of South Kordofan throughout their war.

Sudan has been mired in conflict since April 2023, with battles between the regular army and RSF escalating in recent weeks.

In the vast western region of Darfur, a military air strike on South Darfur’s capital, Nyala, killed 25 people and wounded 63 on Monday, a medical source told AFP.

The attack hit “the Cinema District in Nyala,” an area under RSF control, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity over safety concerns.

The RSF holds sway over much of Darfur, including Nyala, which lies 195 kilometers from El-Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur, which is the only state in the region still under army control.

El-Fasher is home to some two million people who have been under RSF siege since May.

The city has seen some of the worst fighting of the war as the army battles to keep its last foothold in the region.

The attacks in South Kordofan and Darfur also come amid intensified fighting between the army and the RSF in Khartoum, where the army has made advances against the paramilitaries.

Last week, the army broke a siege of its headquarters in the capital and the Signal Corps in Khartoum North, which had both been encircled by the RSF since the war began.

On Saturday, at least 60 people were killed and more than 150 injured when the RSF shelled a busy market in army-controlled Omdurman, part of greater Khartoum.

Across the Nile in the capital itself, an air strike on an RSF-controlled area left two civilians dead and dozens wounded, rescuers said.

Both warring sides have been repeatedly accused of targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.

The war has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and devastated Sudan ‘s fragile infrastructure, forcing most health facilities out of service.

The U.N.’s migration agency said on Monday that more than 600,000 people have been displaced from North Darfur since April 2024.

The International Organization for Migration reported 95 incidents across North Darfur, more than half occurring in El-Fasher.

“These incidents displaced an estimated 605,257 individuals (121,179 households),” the IOM report said.

The U.N. secretary-general’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric expressed alarm on Monday over reports of summary executions of civilians in Khartoum North, allegedly by fighters and militias allied with the army.

“Many of the victims of these incidents were allegedly originally from Darfur or the Kordofan regions of Sudan,” he said, calling on all parties to stop fighting and work towards a lasting peace.

Sudanese women, children and men “are paying the price for the continued fighting by the belligerents,” Dujarric added. 
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US markets pare losses after Trump pauses tariff on Mexican imports

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U.S. stock markets fell sharply in early trading Monday but pared their losses after President Donald Trump paused a planned 25% tariff on Mexican imports.

The three major U.S. stock indices — the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue chip stocks, the broader S&P 500 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ — all dropped nearly 2% or more on fears that Trump’s new tariffs targeting Canada, China and Mexico would threaten the global economy.

But the losses were cut in half after Trump paused the levy on Mexican goods for a month, even though his planned 25% tariff on Canadian goods and a 10% levy on Chinese imports were still set to take hold at midnight.

Trump was planning further discussions mid-afternoon Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Stock markets in Asia fell Monday amid investor concerns about the tariffs.

Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 2.66%, while South Korea’s KOSPI index finished off 2.5%. 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down more than 2% in early trading before rallying to close down just .07%.

Britain’s FTSE index, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC40 all dropped more than 1%.

Canada and Mexico both announced tariffs on U.S. goods in response to Trump’s move before Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told Trump she would send 10,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to try to curb the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the U.S. and Trump paused his tariff on Mexican imports.

China has pledged to file a protest with the World Trade Organization over the Trump tariff increase on its exports to the U.S. 

Canada, China and Mexico are the top three U.S. trade partners. 

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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British environmental journalist denied entry to Cambodia

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BANGKOK — A journalist who covers environmental issues from Cambodia has been banned from entering the country where he has been based for the past five years.

British reporter Gerry Flynn told VOA that immigration officials denied his re-entry to Cambodia on Jan. 5, when he tried to return after a vacation in Thailand.

The journalist went public with the incident Monday.

“It’s not just a professional blow, but very personal, too,” Flynn told VOA by phone. “We’ve all seen in the last five years, press freedom [has] deteriorated there.”

Flynn, 33, is staff writer at Mongabay, a news website that reports on environmental issues worldwide. He has spent five years reporting from Siem Reap in Cambodia’s northwest, covering environmental and governance issues.

The first sign of a possible problem came on January 2, when Flynn says he was stopped at the Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport prior to departing Cambodia.

Authorities told Flynn that one of the documents in his visa applications was fake. But, the reporter said, he was allowed to embark on his trip to visit Moo Deng, a baby endangered pygmy hippopotamus that has become a worldwide tourist attraction in Thailand.

When he returned three days later, Flynn said he was questioned again.

“This time they didn’t mess around. They were just straight away saying that my visa had been acquired fraudulently. They couldn’t tell me which document was supposed to be incorrect or fake,” he said. “The only thing they would tell me is that I’d been placed on the blacklist on November 25, 2024.”

Immigration officials told Flynn he was banned indefinitely and would not be able to return to Cambodia. Denied entry, the journalist traveled back to Thailand.

Flynn has a one-year Type E business visa, valid through February 2025, and a valid work permit issued by Cambodia’s labor ministry. His press accreditation expired January 1, but he had applied to renew the pass.

His news outlet, Mongabay, has said that it believes the action is retaliatory.

Flynn recently featured as a contributor to a France24 documentary, “Real carbon, false credits? Investigating mass deforestation in Cambodia”.

The documentary focuses on carbon-offset projects in the Cardamom Mountains. After it aired on November 22, Cambodia’s government labeled the findings “fake news.”

Two other contributors were detained a day after it aired, but later released, according to Mongabay.

Neither Cambodia’s government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor its press communications division replied to VOA’s emails requesting comment.

Mongabay on Monday said Cambodian authorities have not provided further information to Flynn about his case or his options to appeal.

In a statement, Mongabay said that Cambodia claims Flynn had applied for a visa to work as an electrician. But Mongabay said Flynn has “consistently held a valid government-issued press pass … in Cambodia.”

“For more than five years, Flynn has reported from Cambodia, and despite the increasing hostility towards journalists, it’s a country that he’s grown to love,” the statement said. “As such, it’s both a professional and personal blow to be uprooted from the country Flynn has called home in what appears to be direct retaliation for his journalistic work.”

International media watchdogs have condemned Cambodia’s action.

“The immigration entry ban on journalist Gerry Flynn shows just how far Cambodian authorities are willing to go to suppress independent reporting on the country’s environmental catastrophe,” Shawn Crispin, the senior Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalist, told VOA by email.

Crispin noted that Flynn has reported on deforestation in Cambodia, adding, “His expose journalism no doubt made people in powerful positions who profit from the illegal trade very uncomfortable.”

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, told VOA, “Cambodia is working overtime to wipe out what’s left of media freedom in the country.”

Reporting or campaigning about environmental issues in Cambodia can be risky.

Local journalist Chhoeung Chheng died from his injuries after being shot in Siem Reap province in December while investigating deforestation.

In July, 10 members of Cambodian environmental activist group Mother Nature were sentenced from six to eight years in prison for conspiring against the state.

The group had been investigating waste pollution in Phnom Penh’s Tonle Sap River. Mother Nature had campaigned against the destruction of natural resources throughout Cambodia and corruption.

Overall, Cambodia has a poor record for press freedom. It ranks 151 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media scene.

Reporters Without Borders, which compiles the index, describes a “legacy of repression against the independent media.”

In November, an investigative journalist who helped expose the existence of massive scam centers in Cambodia announced that he was quitting.

The journalist, Mech Dara, was detained for 30 days and charged with incitement, which carries a potential sentence of up to two years in prison.

Two other local reporters who investigated mistreatment of workers at a scam center were detained in late January, according to watchdogs.

Flynn, who is the president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia, said that until recently Cambodia “refrained from going after foreign journalists.”

“All journalists, whether foreign or Cambodian all face varying levels of harassment in the field. I know some who were arbitrarily detained while working,” he said.

According to a quarterly review report from the Cambodian Journalist Alliance, more than a dozen journalists were legally or physically harassed between July and September of 2024.

Reflecting on his case, Flynn said, “I think the biggest annoyance is it has eaten the whole month, when in reality that month should have been spent continuing to report on important issues in Cambodia.”

“For me it’s obviously a setback but it is not going to stop either myself or others from reporting on issues related to the environment,” Flynn added. “I don’t think silencing journalists is going to prevent people from seeing the problems that are happening.”
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‘Trump talk’ takes center stage at African mining conference

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CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — The 31st Investing in African Mining Indaba is underway in Cape Town, South Africa with over 115 countries represented. At the forefront of many discussions are the plans of U.S. President Donald Trump, and the effect that U.S. tariffs and the freeze on foreign aid might have on Africa’s mining industries. 

The theme of this year’s conference is “Future-proofing African Mining, Today.” However, some participants are concerned that tariffs imposed by Trump — most notably the 10% tariff on Chinese goods announced Saturday — will make this mission much harder. 

Denys Denya, senior executive vice president of Afreximbank, which is involved in funding trade expansion projects, said tariffs are dominating their talks, but answers are few so far. 

“Because China sources lots of its minerals from Africa that go into its manufacturing which then gets exported, there’s a potential negative knock-on effect on African mining, if the demand is not there as a result of the tariff,” Denya said. “But we are waiting to see what the impact will be. At the moment we can speculate, but we don’t really have the evidence.” 

Trump’s decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid was also a topic of discussion.  

South Africa’s Minister of Minerals and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, told delegates in his opening address that Africa should withhold minerals if funding is withdrawn. 

But Denya had an opposing view. 

“I think every administration has a right to determine how national resources are going to be deployed, so the Trump administration has a right to determine where to use their resources and we cannot impose on the United States to continue to fund certain activities. So, it’s up to the American people to decide,” Denya said. 

Veteran mining analyst Peter Major said that unlike China, the U.S. has been cautious with its investments in Africa, due to several factors including political instability on the continent. 

A case in point is the current conflict in the mineral-rich eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where M23 rebels and the Congolese government are fighting for control. 

Major urged the U.S. to continue with the Lobito Corridor, a rail project for the transport of minerals from Congo and Zambia to the port of Lobito in Angola on the Atlantic coast. The project was supported by former President Joe Biden’s administration. 

“I think it was the U.S. putting a toe in the water and they mustn’t stop now,” Major said. “They must put the foot in the water, they must get the leg in there, they must maximize the value and leverage of that project and show Africa how keen they are to come here and help under reasonable, logical, beneficially good terms for all players.” 

Africa is believed to hold 30% of the world’s minerals, some of them traditional sources of wealth like diamonds and gold, others used in products like batteries and electric vehicles, regarded as critical for the transition to cleaner energy sources.  

Delegates at the conference, which runs until Feb. 6, represent mining companies, investors and governments. There is a delegation from the United States, but all media inquiries are being directed to Washington.
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Film director found guilty of sexual assault in France’s first big #MeToo trial 

Posted on by SeeEU

Paris — A Paris court found a filmmaker guilty of sexual assault on French actor Adèle Haenel when she was between 12 and 15 in the early 2000s, in the country’s first big #MeToo trial.

Filmmaker Christophe Ruggia was sentenced Monday to two years under house arrest with an electronic bracelet plus a two-year suspended sentence. Ruggia had denied any wrongdoing.

Haenel, now 35, was the first top actor in France to accuse the film industry of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse after the #MeToo movement broke out. In 2019, she accused Ruggia of having repeatedly touched her inappropriately during and after filming of the movie “Les Diables,” or “The Devils,” in the early 2000s.

Haenel appeared relieved, breathing deeply, as Monday’s verdict was being released. She was applauded by some women’s rights activists as she left the courtroom.

The court ruled that Ruggia “took advantage of the dominant position” he had on Haenel at the time. “During quasi-weekly meetings at your home for over three years you had sexualized gestures and attitudes,” as Haenel was “gradually isolated” from her loved ones, the court said in a statement.

Ruggia’s lawyer said her client would appeal.

He “maintains that he has never touched Adele Haenel,” the lawyer, Fanny Colin, said. “Sentenced in these conditions and on the sole basis of her words seems to us not only unjustified but dangerous.”

Haenel, star of the 2019 Cannes entry “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” has in recent years vocally protested what she’s called an insufficient response to sexual abuse in French filmmaking.

At the Cesar Awards in 2020, she walked out of the ceremony after Roman Polanski won best director. Polanski is still wanted in the United States decades after he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

In 2023, Haenel, announced she was quitting the French film industry that she denounced for “complacency toward sexual aggressors.” She published an open letter in which she said Cannes and other pillars of the French film industry are “ready to do anything to defend their rapist chiefs.”

While #MeToo initially struggled to find traction in France, some other actors and film industry workers have since spoken out.

French renowned actor Judith Godreche attended Monday’s verdict at the Paris courthouse. “It was a very moving and a very important moment that reminded me of things that, in my case, may go unpunished,” she told reporters with tears in her eyes.

Last year, Godreche accused film director Benoit Jacquot of having raped and physically abused her in a six-year relationship that began when she was 14 years old. Jacquot, who has more than 50 director credits in film and television, was handed preliminary charges of rape, sexual assault and violence in July 2024.

Godreche is also accusing another film director, Jacques Doillon, of sexual abuse while he was directing a film when she was 15.

Both Jacquot and Doillon have denied the allegations.

In a separate case, French actor Gerard Depardieu is to go on trial in March on charges of sexually assaulting two women on a film set.

Depardieu, who has denied any wrongdoing, is accused of using “violence, coercion, surprise or threat” in the alleged sexual assaults that prosecutors say took place in 2021 on the set of “Les Volets verts,” or “The Green Shutters.”
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Crews return to the Potomac River to recover wreckage from DC midair collision  

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Arlington — Crews were on the scene on the Potomac River on Monday to retrieve the submerged wreckage of an airliner and an Army helicopter that collided midair in the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001.

Authorities have recovered and identified 55 of the 67 people killed in the crash and Washington, D.C., Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly has said they are confident all will be found.

Crews were expected to begin the work of lifting the wreckage on Monday and at daybreak they could be seen aboard a vessel with a crane. More than 300 responders were taking part in the recovery effort at a given time, officials said.

Two Navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage. Divers and salvage workers are adhering to strict protocols and will stop moving debris if a body is found, Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said Sunday.

The “dignified recovery” of remains takes precedence over all else, he said.

Portions of the two aircraft that collided over the river Wednesday night near Reagan Washington National Airport — an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard and an Army Black Hawk helicopter with 3 aboard — will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar for investigation.

The crash occurred when the jet, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was about to land. The Black Hawk was on a training mission. There were no survivors.

On Sunday, family members were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac River bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding. The plane’s passengers included figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip.

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were in the helicopter.

Federal investigators were working to piece together the events that led to the collision.

Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days. Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.

Experts stress that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded airspace around Reagan Airport can challenge even experienced pilots.
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South Africa defends itself against Trump and Musk attacks on land policy 

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JOHANNESBURG — South Africa defended itself on Monday against attacks on its land confiscation policy by Donald Trump and his South African-born billionaire backer Elon Musk after the U.S. president said he would cut off funding to the country over the issue. 

Trump said on Sunday, without citing evidence, that “South Africa is confiscating land” and “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.” 

“I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!” he said. 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government had not confiscated any land, and he looked forward to engaging with Trump to foster a better understanding over the matter. 

The United States committed nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023, the most recent U.S. government data showed. The lion’s share of the sum, $315 million, was for HIV/AIDS. 

Ramaphosa said U.S. funding accounted for 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS program but it was reliant on “no other significant funding” from the United States. 

The president signed into law a bill last month to make it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, despite objections by some parties in his ruling coalition. The law aims to address stark racial disparities in land ownership that persist three decades after the end of apartheid in 1994. 

“The recently adopted Expropriation Act is not a confiscation instrument, but a constitutionally mandated legal process that ensures public access to land in an equitable and just manner as guided by the constitution,” the presidency said. 

The question of land reform is highly politically charged in South Africa due to the legacy of the colonial and apartheid eras, when Black people were dispossessed of their lands and denied property rights. 

Musk, the world’s richest person and a South African-born U.S. citizen who has Trump’s ear and more than 200 million followers on the X social media platform that he owns, quickly waded into the dispute. 

“Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?” he said in a post on X, responding to Ramaphosa who had posted the presidency statement. He was apparently suggesting white people were the victims of the racism he alleged. 

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya urged Musk to talk constructively with the South African president. 

“My brother, you would know that owing to a devastating legacy of centuries of oppressive and brutal colonialism and apartheid, our constitution provides for redressing the ills of the past,” he said. 

Under the Expropriation Act, special conditions have to be met before expropriating land such as it having longtime informal occupants, being unused and held purely for speculation, or being abandoned. 

South Africa’s rand fell nearly 2% against the dollar early on Monday after Trump’s remarks. Stocks and the benchmark government bond also tumbled. 

Charles Robertson, an emerging markets specialist at FIM Partners, said that African countries were relatively well positioned to withstand an attack by Trump because the United States was a far less important investor than China and Europe. 

But any U.S. measures against South Africa would represent a serious challenge for Ramaphosa, who has been trying to boost the sluggish economy and attract foreign investors, he said. 

“The difficulty with South Africa is, do you want to set up a factory in a country where today, Trump’s cutting off all aid. Maybe tomorrow, he’s ripping up AGOA (a trade deal with Africa) and maybe on Wednesday, he’s adding 25% tariffs because they’re too close to China,” he said. 
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Hospitals in eastern Congo are crowded with wounded and exhausting their supplies  

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GOMA, Congo — Hundreds of wounded people have poured into overcrowded hospitals in Goma, a major city in eastern Congo, as fighting rages on between government forces and the Rwanda-backed rebels who seized the city of around 2 million people.

“They will get infected before we can treat them all,” said Florence Douet, an operating room nurse at Bethesda Hospital, as she attended to patients with varying degrees of injuries.

Since the start of the M23 rebels’ offensive on Goma on Jan. 26, more than 700 people have been killed and nearly 3,000 have been wounded in the city and its vicinity, officials say. Bethesda Hospital alone said it receives more than 100 new patients each day, overstretching its capacity of 250 beds.

Bethesda is one of several hospitals in Goma that The Associated Press visited that has inadequate personnel and supplies. The city hosts many of the close to 6.5 million people displaced by the conflict, which is one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

As more people arrived at the hospitals with gunshot or shrapnel wounds, many were forced to share beds while others lay on the floor, writhing in pain as they waited for medical attention.

“This is the first time I’m experiencing this,” said Patrick Bagamuhunda, who was wounded in the fighting. “This war has caused a lot of damage, but at least we are still breathing.”

The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012, when they first captured Goma before withdrawing under international pressure. They are the most potent of the more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology.

Unlike in 2012, the rebels say they now plan to march to Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, 1,600 kilometers away, describing the country as a failed state under President Félix Tshisekedi.

The fighting in Congo has connections with a decadeslong ethnic conflict. M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and others in Rwanda. Many Hutus fled to Congo after the genocide and founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia group. Rwanda said the group is “fully integrated” into the Congolese military, which denies the charges.

Hospitals are running out of supplies

Medical workers at Kyeshero Hospital in Goma say they are treating an increasing number of patients with bullet wounds.

“We removed 48 bullets yesterday,” Johnny Kasangati, a surgeon, said Friday as he examined a patient under a tent.

Kyeshero is also severely overcrowded, hitting more than 200% of its capacity on some days, according to Joseph Amadomon Sagara, a project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, which runs the hospital.

In the past, hospitals in Goma could transport wounded patients by boat to South Kivu’s main city, Bukavu, 180 kilometers to the south, but transport across Lake Kivu was suspended during the rebellion and roads have been mostly cut.

The fighting in and around Goma has also disrupted supply chains, leading to shortages in medical supplies that aid groups rely on. Some of it previously entered the city through its international airport, which is now under rebel control.

“Goma was cut off from the world. It was a total blackout,” said Virginie Napolitano, Goma’s emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.

The aid group’s stockpiles, along with those of other groups, have been looted.

“We’re getting by with what we had in the cabinets, but I don’t know for how long,” Napolitano said.

How many have died in the conflict?

Congo’s government has confirmed 773 deaths and 2,880 injured persons at morgues and hospitals. The toll could be higher, it said, citing fears of finding mass graves and more bodies.

The Maternité de la Charité Hospital in Goma was among those struggling to find space for the dead.

“We had 66 bodies here. Fifty-six were transferred to the provincial hospital, where the morgue has more space than ours,” said Jules Kafitiye, the hospital’s medical director.

“We need to avoid decomposition due to disease,” he added, pointing to a tent where bodies were being stored.

Fears of disease spread as morgues overflow

Scores of bodies lay on streets and in hospitals in Goma after the city’s capture, raising fears of disease outbreaks in the region, which is also facing mpox and cholera outbreaks.

The U.N. health body warned last week that repeated mass displacement in Congo has created ideal conditions for the spread of endemic diseases in displacement camps and surrounding communities, including cholera, which saw more than 22,000 infections last year, and measles, which affected close to 12,000 people. The region also battles with chronic child malnutrition.

“There’s a fear for the disease to be spreading widely in communities,” said Dr. Boureima Hama Sambo, the World Health Organization’s representative in Congo. “But at this point, we cannot say because we have not been able to get there.”

 
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WHO proposes budget cut after US exit, defends its work

Posted on by SeeEU

London — World Health Organization member states will discuss cutting part of its budget by $400 million in light of President Trump’s move to withdraw the United States, its biggest government funder, from the agency, a document released on Monday showed.

Opening the agency’s annual executive board meeting, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also defended the agency’s work and recent reforms and reiterated a call for the U.S. to reconsider its exit and enter into dialog with the WHO about further change.

“We would welcome suggestions from the United States, and all member states, for how we can serve you and the people of the world better,” he said.

The budget cut will be discussed at the Feb. 3-11 Geneva meeting, during which member state representatives will discuss the agency’s funding and work for the 2026-2027 period.

The executive board proposes cutting the base programs section of the budget from a proposed $5.3 billion to $4.9 billion, according to a document released on Monday. That is part of the wider $7.5 billion budget for 2026-2027 that was originally proposed, including money for polio eradication and tackling emergencies.

“With the departure of the biggest financial contributor, the budget could not be ‘business as usual,'” the document reads. The U.S. is the WHO’s biggest government donor, contributing around 18% of its overall funding. The WHO has already separately taken some cost-cutting steps after the U.S. move.

However, some board representatives also wanted to send a message that the WHO would preserve its strategic direction despite the challenges, the document adds.

The $4.9 billion is roughly the same as the base program budget for the previous period, 2024-2025.

Trump moved to exit the WHO on his first day in office two weeks ago. The process will take one year under U.S. law.
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EU leaders to huddle on defense against Russia, economy, and US

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BRUSSELS — European Union leaders gather on Monday to discuss how to bolster the continent’s defenses against Russia and how to handle U.S. President Donald Trump after his decision to impose tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.

At a royal palace-turned-conference center in Brussels, the leaders of the EU’s 27 nations will also lunch with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and dine with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, has billed the one-day gathering as a “retreat” devoted to defense policy rather than a formal summit, aiming for an open discussion without any official declaration or decisions.

The first session focuses on geopolitics and relations with the United States, meaning Trump’s sweeping weekend move on tariffs is certain to come up – particularly as EU officials fear they may soon face similar measures.

Trump, who began his second term as president on Jan. 20, will also be a major factor in the talks on defense, as he has demanded that European nations spend much more on their own protection and rely less on the United States via the NATO security alliance.

Trump’s call for EU member Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States – and his refusal to rule out military action or economic pressure to force Copenhagen’s hand – has also added strains to trans-Atlantic ties.

The EU leaders are expected to discuss what military capabilities they need in the coming years, how they could be funded and how they might cooperate more through joint projects.

“Europe needs to assume greater responsibility for its own defense,” Costa said in a letter to the leaders. “It needs to become more resilient, more efficient, more autonomous and a more reliable security and defense actor.”

Finding funding

The funding discussion will be especially tough, according to diplomats, as many European countries have little room in their public finances for big spending hikes.

Some countries, such as the Baltic states and France, advocate joint EU borrowing to spend on defense. But Germany and the Netherlands are staunchly opposed.

One compromise could be to borrow to finance loans rather than grants for defense projects, according to some diplomats.

European countries have ramped up defense spending in recent years, particularly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which brought war to the EU’s borders.

But many EU leaders have said they will need to spend even more. Trump has said NATO’s European members should spend 5% of GDP on defense – a figure no member of the alliance including the United States currently reaches.

Last year, EU countries spent an average of 1.9% of GDP on defense – about $334.48 billion, according to EU estimates.

That is a 30% increase from 2021, according to the EU. But it also masks wide divergences among EU countries.

Poland and the Baltic states are among the biggest defense spenders in GDP terms, with Warsaw leading the pack at more than 4.1%, according to NATO estimates. But some of the EU’s biggest economies such as Italy and Spain spend much less – about 1.5% and 1.3% respectively.
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Asian markets slump after Trump announces tariffs

Posted on by SeeUS

Stock markets in Asia fell Monday amid investor concerns about new tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would levy on imports from China, Mexico and Canada.

Japan’s Nikkei index was down 2.4% at its midday break, while South Korea’s KOSPI index was trading down 3%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down more than 2% in early trading before cutting its loses to 1.4% around midday.

U.S. stock futures were down ahead of those markets opening Monday.

Trump on Saturday announced the 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods.

Canada and Mexico have announced their own tariffs on U.S. goods in response to Trump’s move. China has pledged to take unspecified measures in its response.

China, Mexico and Canada are the top three U.S. trade partners.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Rising floodwaters force evacuations in eastern Australia

Posted on by SeeEA

SYDNEY — Fast-moving floodwaters rose Monday in northeastern Australia after forcing many to flee, blacking out homes, and sweeping away a chunk of a critical bridge.

Storms have already dumped more than a meter of rain in two days in parts of Queensland, engulfing homes, businesses and roads in muddy waters, authorities said.

Aerial footage showed rural communities surrounded by the floodwaters, cut off from nearby roads.

“We are going to see widespread rain and storms spread across much of northern Queensland,” the state’s premier, David Crisafulli, warned in a news conference.

“We remain prepared for the ongoing prospect of more rain and the likelihood of more flooding, both flash flooding and riverine flooding,” he said.

Emergency services carried out 11 “swift water rescues” overnight, the premier said.

Areas of flood-hit Townsville, a popular coastal tourist destination that lies near the Great Barrier Reef, had been declared a “black zone,” he said.

“Our advice to residents in the black zone at the moment is to stay out of that zone and stay safe.”

The authorities told 2,100 people in the town to evacuate at the weekend, though about 10% refused, emergency services officials said.

‘Bridge torn in two’

One woman in her 60s was killed Sunday when the rescue boat she was in flipped over in the flood-hit rural town of Ingham, about 100 kilometers from Townsville, police said.

Her body was recovered later.

The floods swept away a section of a concrete bridge over a creek, cutting off the state’s main coastal road, the Bruce Highway, the state premier said.

“It’s not every day you see a bridge torn in two. That’s what has happened at Ollera Creek, and it is significant,” Crisafulli said.

Almost 11,000 properties remained without power across north Queensland,  Ergon Energy said, with no timeframe given for when electricity will be restored.

Townsville acting mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said the floods were expected to peak on Tuesday morning.

“The roads at the moment are cut off, so communities are isolated,” she told AFP.

The town was pressing for power to be restored and working with major supermarkets to deliver food, the mayor said.

As global temperatures rise because of climate change, scientists have warned that heatwaves and other extreme weather events, such as severe flooding, droughts and wildfires will become more frequent and more intense.

    
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Trial of Spain’s ex-football chief over forced kiss to begin

Posted on by SeeEU

MADRID — Spain’s former football chief Luis Rubiales goes on trial on Monday over the forced kiss he gave star forward Jenni Hermoso with the player scheduled to take the stand.

The 47-year-old provoked worldwide outrage after he cupped Hermoso’s head and gave her an unsolicited kiss after Spain beat England to win the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia.

Prosecutors are seeking two and a half years in prison for Rubiales, one year for sexual assault for the forced kiss and 18 months for allegedly coercing Hermoso, 34, to downplay the incident.

The kiss was given “unexpectedly and without the consent or acceptance of the player,” prosecutors wrote in their indictment.

“Constant and repeated pressure was exerted directly on the player Jennifer Hermoso and through her family and friends with the aim of justifying and publicly approving the kiss that Luis Rubiales gave her against her will,” it added.

The highly anticipated trial gets underway at the National Court in San Fernando de Henares near Madrid at 10 a.m. and is expected to run until Feb. 19.

Rubiales is scheduled to take the stand on Feb. 12. He has called the kiss an innocuous “peck between friends celebrating” and denied any coercion.

Among the accused alongside Rubiales are ex-women’s national team coach Jorge Vilda and two former federation officials, Ruben Rivera and Albert Luque.

They also stand accused of trying to coerce Hermoso with prosecutors seeking 18 months’ jail against them.

Historic success overshadowed

The scandal that rocked Spanish football and wrecked Rubiales’ career broke on Aug. 20, 2023, moments after the women’s national team had clinched World Cup glory in Sydney.

As Hermoso joined her teammates in collecting their winner’s medals, Rubiales clasped her head and kissed her on the lips before letting her go with two slaps on the back.

The act unleashed a public outcry at what critics deemed an abuse of power. A recent reform of the Spanish criminal code classifies a non-consensual kiss as sexual assault.

Rubiales, who was already under investigation for alleged corruption in his role as federation head, finally gave into pressure and stepped down in September 2023, two days after the start of a probe over the kiss. He had been federation chief since 2018.

In a recent Netflix documentary titled “Se acabo” (“It’s over”), which looks back at the players’ anger after the scandal overshadowed their historic success, Hermoso revealed she cried following the kiss.

Hermoso, the all-time top scorer for the national women’s team who now plays in Mexico, said in the documentary that the federation demanded she appear in a video where she would claim Rubiales’ kiss “was nothing, it was… joy, euphoria.”
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Gerber recalls baby teething sticks over possible choking hazard

Posted on by SeeUS

Arlington, Virginia — A baby food maker is recalling edible sticks meant to ease teething pain over a possible choking hazard. 

Gerber announced Friday that it was recalling and discontinuing its brand of “Sooth N Chew” teething sticks after receiving customer complaints about choking. The company said one emergency room visit had been reported. 

The teething sticks are edible teethers marketed to parents and guardians of children six months and older. They come in strawberry-apple and banana flavors. 

Gerber said it was working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the recall. 

Customers who bought the teething sticks should return them to stores where they were purchased for a refund, the company said. 

Anyone concerned about an injury or illness should contact a health care provider. For any additional support needed, Gerber is available 24/7 at 1-800-4-GERBER (1-800-443-7237). 

The company says it is working with the U.S. FDA on this recall and will cooperate with them fully. 
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Uganda set to begin Ebola vaccine trial after new outbreak kills nurse

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Kampala, Uganda — Ugandan officials are preparing to deploy a trial vaccine as part of efforts to stem an outbreak of Ebola in the capital, Kampala, a top health official said Sunday.

A range of scientists are developing research protocols relating to the planned deployment of more than 2,000 doses of a candidate vaccine against the Sudan strain of Ebola, said Pontiano Kaleebu, executive director of Uganda Virus Research Institute.

“Protocol is being accelerated” to get all the necessary regulatory approvals, he said. “This vaccine is not yet licensed.”

The World Health Organization said in a statement that its support to Uganda’s response to the outbreak includes access to 2,160 doses of trial vaccine.

“Research teams have been deployed to the field to work along with the surveillance teams as approvals are awaited,” the WHO statement said.

The candidate vaccine as well as candidate treatments are being made available through clinical trial protocols to further test for efficacy and safety, it said.

The vaccine maker wasn’t immediately known. There are no approved vaccines for the Sudan strain of Ebola that killed a nurse employed at Kampala’s main referral hospital. The man died on Wednesday and authorities declared an outbreak the next day.

 Officials are still investigating the source of the outbreak, and there has been no other confirmed case.

Uganda has had access to candidate vaccine doses since the end of an Ebola outbreak in September 2022 that killed at least 55 people. Ugandan officials ran out of time to begin a vaccine study when that outbreak, in central Uganda, was declared over about four months later, Kaleebu said.

A trial vaccine known as rVSV-ZEBOV, used to vaccinate 3,000 people at risk of infection during an outbreak of the Zaire strain of Ebola in eastern Congo between 2018 and 2020, proved effective in containing the spread of the disease there.

Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed hundreds. The 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people, the disease’s largest death toll.

Tracing contacts is also key to stemming the spread of Ebola, which manifests as a viral hemorrhagic fever.

At least 44 contacts of the victim in the current outbreak have been identified, including 30 health workers and patients, according to Uganda’s Ministry of Health.

Confirmation of Ebola in Uganda is the latest in a series of outbreaks of viral hemorrhagic fevers in the east African region. Tanzania declared an outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg disease earlier this month, while in December Rwanda announced that its own outbreak of Marburg was over. The ongoing Marburg outbreak in northern Tanzania’s Kagera region has killed at least two people, according to local health authorities.

Kampala’s outbreak could prove difficult to respond to, because the city has a highly mobile population of about 4 million. The nurse who died had sought treatment at a hospital just outside Kampala and later traveled to Mbale, in the country’s east, where he was admitted to a public hospital. Health authorities said the man also sought the services of a traditional healer.

Ebola is spread by contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.

Scientists don’t know the natural reservoir of Ebola, but they suspect the first person infected in an outbreak acquired the virus through contact with an infected animal or eating its raw meat.

Ebola was discovered in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and Congo, where it occurred in a village near the Ebola River, after which the disease is named.
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DR Congo: Near Goma, displaced people begin long journey home

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GOMA, DRC — Once crowded with white makeshift huts, the huge Kanyaruchinya camp for displaced people on the outskirts of Goma, in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, looked eerily empty Sunday.

Since Goma was taken by M23 fighters earlier this week, some 100,000 internally displaced people have left the jam-packed hillside where they had set up several years ago.

The ongoing crisis in the eastern DRC continues to escalate, with tensions involving the Congolese government, and the M23 rebel group. The DRC government has officially designated the M23 rebel group as a terrorist organization, while the U.N. and the U.S. classify it as an armed rebel group.

The DRC government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, a claim that Rwanda denies. Kigali, in turn, alleges that Kinshasa collaborates with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu armed group with ties to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an allegation the DRC rejects.

Military operations in the region remain fluid, with clashes leading to significant displacement and humanitarian concerns.

The M23 offensive in the mineral-rich eastern DRC is the latest to scar a region that has seen relentless conflict involving dozens of armed groups kill an estimated 6 million people over three decades.

“Life in the camp is a life of suffering and hunger,” said Christine Bwiza, one of the last people to leave camp Kanyaruchinya, which sits near the Rwandan border.

There, residents had cobbled together makeshift huts from sticks and tarpaulin. Hunger was rampant and poor hygiene regularly caused cholera outbreaks.

Many had mixed feelings about finally going home.

Some said they were relieved, others stressed they had no choice. All worried about their future.

On the side of the road, a convoy of overcrowded trucks picked up some of the last contingents of travelers.

“I was a displaced person who came with nothing. And today I’m going home just as I came,” said Denise Zaninga, seated at the back of a vehicle, adding that she had no idea where she was headed.  

“I am leaving but I don’t know where I’m going to live,” she said.

Others shared her anxiety.

“Our homes are destroyed, our children are lost because of the war, and we are returning home hungry,” said Bwiza.

For Aline Irafasha, “hunger will kill us wherever we go, but it’s better to suffer at home.”

The driver of the truck they had boarded said the M23 had paid for the vehicle and financed the trip.

Since M23 fighters and Rwandan troops have taken control of the city, the nearby front line has disappeared.

Surrounding territories are now accessible by road, bordered by abandoned military posts and charred armored vehicles.

Under pressure

The M23 has vowed to send displaced people back to where they came from, and their violent takeover of Goma meant people in the camp had little choice but to leave.

The overall population in Goma, a city of 1 million people, has nearly doubled in the past 30 years, swollen by victims fleeing violence.

At the camp, now a deserted, littered field, some said they had been pressured into leaving, but most preferred to go home before being forced to.

This sudden exodus sits well with locals whose farmlands were invaded and occupied for years.

“Here we used to have fields,” said Elizabeth Base Sembimbi, pointing to a plot of land in ruins in front of her plank house.

“But we had to stop harvesting because of the robberies,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to farming again.

On the side of the road, armed men, apparently from the Rwandan army, patrolled the street on foot.

One resident said that at nightfall, armed men had broken into people’s homes looking for weapons and forcing young people to carry food and water over long distances without paying them.

“People are starting to feel scared,” he said. “We can’t say anything, we keep our mouths shut and observe.”
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Italian who saved children from WWII massacre dies aged 96

Posted on by SeeEU

Rome — Milena Bernabo, awarded one of Italy’s top civilian honors for saving three children from the Nazis during World War II, died Sunday aged 96, local authorities said. 

Bernabo was awarded the gold medal for civil merit for saving her young neighbors during the August 1944 massacre of Sant’Anna di Stazzema, in Tuscany, in which 560 people died.  

Then aged 16, Bernabo had been led together with fellow villagers into an outhouse and targeted by German machine gun fire. 

Bernabo was wounded, according to the citation. 

But she managed to escape with Mario, five, and 10-year-olds Mauro and Lina, from the building as it was set on fire. 

The trio she saved were present to see Bernabo receive the valor award at a ceremony in the central city of Lucca in 2005. 

Officials at the time hailed her bravery as an example of many Italians’ “silent resistance” to Nazi occupation during the latter part of World War II. 

“Throughout her life she was an ambassador of peace, reminding the young people she encountered of the Nazi-Fascist massacre of Sant’Anna di Stazzema,” the office of the mayor of Stazzema, Maurizio Verona, told AFP in an emai 

“Milena remembered with the hope that those who listened would understand that Fascism and Nazism were absolute evils of the last century and that the institutions and their representatives would work to build a better future.” 

Two other women from Sant’Anna were awarded the same honor — Cesira Pardini, who died in 2022, and Genny Bibolotti Marsili, who died the day of the massacre. 

They were all “heroines,” Mayor Verona told the ANSA news agency, hailing Bernabo’s strength and determination to keep the memory of what happened alive.           
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‘Dog Man’ bites off $36 million, taking No. 1 at box office

Posted on by SeeUS

New York — DreamWorks Animation’s “Dog Man” fetched $36 million in ticket sales at the weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday, making it the biggest debut yet in 2025.

It was a big opening for the Universal Pictures release adapted from the popular graphic novel series by author Dav Pilkey. The big-screen launch for the cartoon canine was produced for a modest $40 million, meaning it will easily coast through a profitable run. Audiences gave it an “A” CinemaScore.

Only one animated film before has had a better January launch: 2016’s “Kung Fu Panda 3.” “Dog Man,” though, was soft overseas, collecting $4.2 million from 29 international markets. The voice cast of the Peter Hastings-directed movie is led by Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery and Isla Fisher.

Family movies last year buoyed the box office, with PG-rated films accounting for $2.9 billion, or 33% of all ticket revenue, according to data firm Comscore. So far, they’re lifting 2025, too. The Walt Disney Co.’s December release “Mufasa: The Lion King” topped the weekend box office three times in January. In its seventh week of release, “Mufasa” held in third place with another $6.1 million, bringing its global tally to $653 million.

“The PG animation family film wave that was so prevalent in ’24 continues in ’25,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore.

The horror comedy “Companion,” from Warner Bros. and New Line, also opened well, with $9.5 million in 3,285 locations. Drew Hancock’s sci-fi tinged film set in the near future is about a group of friends on a weekend lakeside getaway.

“Companion,” starring Sophie Thatcher (“Heretic”), was lightly marketed and made for just $10 million. It will depend on glowing reviews (94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and strong word of mouth (a “B+” CinemaScore) to keep drawing moviegoers in the coming weeks.

Last week’s top film, Mel Gibson’s “Flight Risk,” dropped steeply in its second weekend. The action thriller starring Mark Wahlberg fell to fifth place with $5.6 million. Domestically, it has collected $20.9 million for Lionsgate.

One of the early year’s standout successes has been Sony Pictures’ “One of Them Days,” the R-rated comedy starring Keke Palmer and SZA. Though comedies have had a hard time in theaters in recent years, “One of Them Days” has proven the exception. The well-reviewed movie earned $5.6 million over the weekend, bringing its three-week total to $34.5 million – a stellar result for a movie that cost $14 million to make.

Final domestic figures will be released Monday. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

  1. “Dog Man,” $36 million.

  2. “Companion,” $9.5 million.

  3. “Mufasa,” $6.1 million.

  4. “One of Them Days,” $6 million.

  5. “Flight Risk” $5.6 million.

  6. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” $3.2 million.

  7. “Moana 2,” $2.8 million.

  8. “A Complete Unknown,” $2.2 million.

  9. “The Brutalist,” $1.9 million.

  10. “Den of Thieves: Pantera,” $1.6 million.
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