Month: February 2025

Protests against Germany’s Merz who supports migration proposal backed by far-right

Posted on by SeeEU

Berlin — Tens of thousands took to the streets across Germany during the weekend to protest the center-right leader and front-runner in a Feb. 25 election for sending to parliament proposals for tough new migration rules that received the backing of a far-right party. 

Angry protesters in Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Leipzig said that Friedrich Merz and his Christian Democrats broke Germany’s unwritten post-Nazi promise by all democratic parties to never pass any rule or resolution in parliament with the support of far-right, nationalist parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD). 

Merz on Wednesday proposed a nonbinding motion in parliament calling for Germany to turn back many more migrants at its borders. The measure squeaked through thanks to AfD’s support. 

Merz was determined to show commitment of his center-right Union bloc, which also includes the Bavaria-only CSU party, to cutting irregular migration after a deadly knife attack last month by a rejected asylum-seeker. 

However, on Friday, the German parliament narrowly rejected a bill calling for tougher rules on migration that risked becoming the first draft legislation to pass thanks to a far-right party. Nonetheless, it has become a focus of a controversy about the attitude toward the far right of the front-runner in the upcoming election. 

Merz has been accused by protesters and politicians on the left of breaking a taboo and endangering mainstream parties’ “firewall” against AfD. He insists his position is unchanged and that he didn’t and won’t work with the party. 

Hundreds of protesters temporarily blocked offices of the Christian Democrats in different cities, and Sunday afternoon up to 20,000 came together for a big rally in Berlin. 

In Cologne, people protested on 350 boats on the Rhine, German news agency dpa reported. The boats lined up in front of the city’s skyline with its famous cathedral with protesters holding up banners with slogans such as “No racism” and “For democracy and diversity.” 

Polls show the center-right Union, which put forward the migration proposal and bill, leading with around 30% support, while AfD is second with about 20%, and the Social Democrats and Greens further down. 

Merz appears to hope that he will gain support by making the Union look decisive in forcing a tougher approach to migration, while blunting the appeal of the anti-immigration AfD and making the governing parties — which say they already have done much to tackle the issue — look out of touch with Germans’ concerns. 

The 12-year-old AfD first entered the national parliament in 2017, benefiting from then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision two years earlier to allow large numbers of migrants into the country. 

A year ago, hundreds of thousands also protested in weeks-long rallies all over Germany against the rise of the far-right and purported plans to deport millions of immigrants, including some holding German passports. 
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Japan launches navigation satellite on new flagship rocket  

Posted on by SeeEA

TOKYO — Japan’s space agency said Sunday it successfully launched a navigation satellite on its new flagship H3 rocket as the country seeks to have a more precise location positioning system of its own. 

The H3 rocket carrying the Michibiki 6 satellite lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center on a southwestern Japanese island. 

Everything went smoothly and the satellite successfully separated from the rocket as planned about 29 minutes after the liftoff, said Makoto Arita, H3 project manager for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. 

Officials said it is expected to reach its targeted geospatial orbit in about two weeks. 

Japan currently has the quasi-zenith satellite system, or QZSS, with four satellites for a regional navigation system that first went into operation in 2018. The Michibiki 6 will be the fifth of its network. 

Michibiki’s signals are used to supplement American GPS and will further improve positioning data for smartphones, car and maritime navigation and drones. 

Japan plans to launch two more navigation satellites to have a seven-satellite system by March 2026 to have a more precise global positioning capability without relying on foreign services, including the U.S., according to the Japan Science and Technology Agency. By the late 2030s, Japan plans to have an 11-satellite network. 

Sunday’s launch, delayed by a day due to the weather, was the fourth consecutive successful flight for the H3 system after a shocking failed debut attempt last year when the rocket had to be destroyed with its payload. 

Japan sees a stable, commercially competitive space transport capability as key to its space program and national security and has been developing two new flagship rockets as successors to the mainstay H2A series — the larger H3 and a much smaller Epsilon system. It hopes to cater to diverse customer needs and improve its position in the growing satellite launch market. 

 
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In US, Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, predicting 6 more weeks of wintry weather  

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PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — U.S. groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Sunday and predicted six more weeks of wintry weather, his top-hatted handlers announced to a raucous, record-sized crowd at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania.

Phil was welcomed with chants of “Phil, Phil, Phil,” and pulled from a hatch on his tree stump shortly after sunrise before a member of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club read from a scroll in which he boasted: “Only I know — you can’t trust A.I.”

The woodchuck’s weather forecast is an annual ritual that goes back more than a century in western Pennsylvania, with far older roots in European folklore, but it took Bill Murray’s 1993 “Groundhog Day” movie to transform the event into what it is today, with tens of thousands of revelers at the scene and imitators scattered around the United States and beyond.

When Phil is deemed to have not seen his shadow, that is said to usher in an early spring. When he does see it, there will be six more weeks of winter.

The crowd was treated to a fireworks show, confetti and live music that ranged from the Ramones to “Pennsylvania Polka” as they awaited sunrise and Phil’s emergence. Gov. Josh Shapiro, local and state elected officials and a pair of pageant winners were among the dignitaries at the scene.

Self-employed New York gingerbread artist Jon Lovitch has attended the event for 33 years. “I like the cold, you know, and this is probably the best and biggest midwinter party in the entire world,” Lovitch said in Punxsutawney. “And it’s just a really good time.”

Phil has predicted a longer winter far more often than an early spring, and one effort to track his accuracy concluded he was right less than half the time. What six more weeks of winter means is subjective.

Tom Dunkel, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, says there are two types of people who make the trek to Gobbler’s Knob: the faithful seeking to validate their beliefs and the doubters who want to confirm their skepticism.

Phil communicated his forecast to Dunkel through “Groundhog-ese” with the help of a special cane that Dunkel has inherited as the club’s leader. It’s not as if he speaks in English words. “He’ll like wink, he’ll purr, he’ll chatter, he’ll — you know — nod,” Dunkel said.

Attendance is free but it cost $5 to take a bus and avoid a 1.6 kilometer trek from the middle of town to the stage where the prediction was made, some 123 kilometers northeast of Pittsburgh.

The need for so many buses is why the local schools, where the sports mascot is the Chucks, close when Groundhog Day falls on a weekday.

Keith Post, his wife and a friend have watched the “Groundhog Day” movie in each of the past five years and decided this was the time to make the trip from Ohio to witness the event.

“We booked rooms almost a year in advance and we’re here,” Post said. “We’re doing it.”

A new welcome center opened four years ago and the club is working on an elaborate second living space for Phil and family so they can split time between Gobbler’s Knob and Phil’s longtime home at the town library. The club also put up large video screens and more powerful speakers this year to help attendees in the back of the crowd follow the proceedings.

“It’s a holiday where you don’t really owe anyone anything,” said A.J. Dereume, who among the club’s 15-member inner circle serves as Phil’s handler and held him up to loud cheers on Sunday. “You’re grasping onto the belief, you know, in something that’s just fun to believe in.”

Jackie Handley agreed a year ago to visit Punxsutawney for the first time to help a friend check off an item on their bucket list. They were ready for the subfreezing temperatures. “It’s once in a lifetime — we’re probably not going to come back. And we have tons of warm clothes,” said Handley, who lives in Falls Church, Virginia. After the forecast was made, club members and Phil posed for photos with people from the crowd.

Phil has a wife, Punxsutawney Phyllis, and two pups born this spring, Shadow and Sunny, although his family did not join him on stage for the big event. The groundhog family eats fruits and vegetables, get daily visits from Dereume and sees a veterinarian at least once a year. The club’s lore is that Phil is the same woodchuck who has been issuing weather forecasts for the past century, thanks to an “elixir of life” that keeps him immortal. “There’s only one Phil, and it’s not something that can be handed down,” Dunkel said. “Just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, there’s only one.”

Groundhog Day celebrations, formal and informal, were being held in many Pennsylvania towns and elsewhere on Sunday. There have been Groundhog Day events in at least 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
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Turkey says it will join with neighbors to fight Islamic State group in Syria 

Posted on by SeeEU

ISTANBUL — Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Jordan will come together to fight the remnants of the Islamic State group, a move the Turkish foreign minister says would allow the United States to cut ties with Kurdish militants in Syria. 

Washington’s decadelong relationship with Kurdish-led forces in Syria is opposed by Turkey. Ankara says the People’s Defense Units, or YPG, are tied to another Kurdish group listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union. 

The YPG, which spearheads the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, has played a central role in fighting IS alongside American special forces and now guards thousands of IS prisoners in northeast Syria. 

“The basic problem is that the YPG has been guarding Daesh inmates and keeping them in prison … they’re not doing anything else,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Sunday, using the Arabic term for IS. 

“So Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Jordan need to come together to fight Daesh. We are capable of doing that and God willing this is the step we will be taking as four countries in the near future. We have already done the preliminary talks for that process.” 

Fidan, who was speaking at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that the new Syrian government had indicated it will take responsibility for IS prisoners. 

Turkey wants U.S. President Donald Trump to step back from supporting the Kurdish fighters, who Ankara regards as terrorists due to their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged war against Turkey since 1984. 

“We hope that President Trump will make the right decision and right this wrong … it is an open wound that needs to be closed as soon as possible,” Fidan added. 

Since Syrian rebels launched an offensive to take the country in November, Turkish-backed fighters have targeted Kurdish forces, taking a number of towns. Meanwhile, the Turkish military has maintained pressure on Kurdish fighters in both Syria and northern Iraq. On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said Turkish troops killed 23 “PKK/YPG terrorists” in northern Syria without providing further details. 

Ankara has called for the Syrian Democratic Forces to be purged of elements linked to the PKK and be absorbed into a future Syrian military. 

The U.S. currently has around 2,000 troops in northeast Syria. During his first term in office, Trump said he would withdraw all American forces from Syria, which triggered a Turkish offensive against the YPG in 2019. 

His seemingly warm relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led to speculation that Trump will again seek to remove the U.S. military presence. 
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Farmers’ lawsuit targets ban on sharing seeds in Kenya

Posted on by SeeAF

KIKUYU, Kenya — Tucked away in a lush, forested area of central Kenya’s Kikuyu town, the National Seed Bank stands as a crucial safeguard for the future of the country’s agriculture.  

Inside two chilly rooms of a government building, more than 50,000 seed varieties are cataloged and stored.

The bank was established in 1988 after the realization that some traditional varieties of seeds were being lost, an occurrence that is becoming more common with climate change. It aims to conserve seeds for research and reintroduction to farms.  

“We realize that some of the traditional varieties that we had abandoned then are actually more resilient to climate change, so when you introduce them, especially in marginal areas, those varieties outperform the improved varieties,” said Desterio Nyamongo, director of the Genetic Resources Research Institute that operates the bank, referring to hybrid seeds that must be bought every planting season.  

He said the some of bank’s seeds also were found to be more resistant to diseases and pests and were high-yielding. This gives hope to a country that relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture instead of irrigation, leaving it more vulnerable to climate shocks like drought. The sector contributes a third of Kenya’s GDP.  

Kenya is not alone facing food security pressures. According to a U.N Food and Agriculture and Organization report in 2023, over a billion people across Africa are unable to afford healthful diets, and the number of hungry people is increasing.  

But in Kenya, another complication has emerged. Farmers in recent months suffered losses in the millions of shillings (tens of thousands of dollars) after planting counterfeit seeds bought from private sellers.  

Kenyan officials have acknowledged that the seed sector is critical. During the country’s first international seed quality conference in August, the agriculture ministry’s permanent secretary, Paul Rono, said Africa has limited capacity to produce high-quality certified seeds that are subjected to quality standards.  

The head of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation, Stephen Muchiri, said the vigor of crops in Kenya has become low, and he believes that the main reason is a flawed seed breeding and propagation program.  

But some farmers say efforts to improve the seed system in Kenya have been limited by a 2012 law banning seed sharing, which is what millions of farmers did every planting season to cut their production cost.  

The government has said the law is meant to prevent the circulation of uncertified seeds and protects farmers, but it faces a court challenge from more than a dozen farmers across Kenya who say it’s expensive having to buy new seeds every planting season. 

The next hearing in the case is in March. Francis Ngiri is one of the farmers who filed the case. He runs an indigenous seed bank for the local community on his five-acre farm in the semi-arid Gilgil area located 120 kilometers from the capital, Nairobi.  

His work has become a learning ground for farmers who have experienced disappointing yields from hybrid seeds. “We have seen that indigenous seeds are more resilient and perform better in our area even when there is reduced rainfall,” he told The Associated Press.  

He passionately shares his knowledge on conserving the seeds using traditional methods such as covering them with wood ash — believed to repel weevils — or keeping them in earthen pots.  

He emphasized the use of locally available materials at no cost. Farmer Maximilla Onyura, who farms sorghum in the western county of Busia, said indigenous crops offer a food security solution.  

She isn’t part of the legal challenge but collaborates with Ngiri through a Kenyan organization called the Seed Savers Network. However, “instead of our government encouraging those offering solutions through indigenous crops, they are now cracking down on those sharing seeds at community level,” she said.  

Seed sharing in Kenya can bring two years in prison, a fine of up to 1 million Kenyan shillings ($7,700), or both. No farmer has been charged.  

The National Seed Bank occasionally distributes some of its collection to farmers at no cost in the hope that the varieties that had long adopted to local conditions will be more resilient.  

The director, Nyamongo, said farmers who cannot afford farm inputs like fertilizers required for hybrid seeds are better off planting the traditional varieties.  

“It would be wrong for farmers, especially farmers in marginal areas, to start thinking that using the indigenous seed is backwardness,” he said. “Far from it, because some of the indigenous varieties have adopted over time to the local conditions, and therefore they are more resilient.”  

Nyamongo did not comment on the farmers’ court challenge to the seed-sharing ban. 

 The president of the Dutch-based climate change adaptation nonprofit Global Center on Adaptation, Patrick V. Verkooijen, said governments can invest in community-based seed programs to preserve a diversity of indigenous varieties.  

“Indigenous crop varieties offer many benefits, particularly their genetic diversity, which helps farmers adapt to climate change, combat pests and diseases, and manage poor soil fertility. However, they also come with challenges, such as potentially lower yields or susceptibility to new pests and diseases,” he said.  

Kenyan proponents of indigenous seeds like Ngiri said lower yields and susceptibility to new pests and diseases only happen when a seed variety is taken from its native location.  

“The reason why they are indigenous is because they have adapted to the climatic conditions and the diseases found in the area they originally came from,” Ngiri said.
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Artists help fellow creators who lost works, archives in L.A. fires

Posted on by SeeUS

LOS ANGELES — Anthony Obi never imagined the night of Jan. 7 would be the last time he’d step inside his safe haven. 

The Houston rapper, known professionally as Fat Tony, has lived in the Altadena neighborhood for a year and says he and his neighbors were prepared for heavy winds and perhaps a few days of power outages. 

“I totally expected, you know, maybe my windows are going to get damaged, and I’ll come back in, like, a day or two and just clean it up,” said the rapper. 

But residents like Obi woke up the following morning to news that thousands of homes and entire neighborhoods had been burned to ash, destroyed by flames that wiped out large areas of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Although the neighborhoods are on opposite ends of the county, they are known hubs for many of the city’s creative community, housing filmmakers, actors, musicians and artists of various mediums. 

“L.A. is not just rich, famous people who have giant mansions that were destroyed,” said visual artist Andrea Bowers, who is helping artists recover. “So many members of our community lost everything. They lost all their artworks and their archives – that’s irreplaceable, a lifetime of labor and a lifetime of research.” 

“A lot of my collectors lost their homes,” said figurative and conceptual artist Salomon Huerta, who lost his Altadena home of three years to the Eaton fire and worries the art scene in L.A. will downsize as a result of the wildfire. “Before the fire, I was in talks with certain collectors. And then, after the fire, they’re not in a good place to talk. I’m hoping that there’s support so that the art scene can still thrive. But it’s going to be tough.” 

Obi and Huerta lost not only personal treasures, business opportunities and homes but also vital equipment and professional archives, adding to their emotional burden. 

Huerta left behind slides and transparencies of past work that he had planned to digitize for an upcoming book. 

“Everything’s gone,” Obi said. “All of my stuff that is related to Fat Tony music that was in that house is gone, and it was the motherlode of it.” 

Grief and Hope 

Kathryn Andrews never imagined she’d experience another wildfire in her lifetime. 

The conceptual artist was forced to flee her Pacific Palisades neighborhood as smoke drew near, the second time in four years she’s had to escape a wildfire. 

She lost her Juniper Hills property to the 2020 Bobcat fire, which burned a large section of rural Los Angeles County. 

“I’ve already experienced one home being burned. I think you have a different focus after that. Maybe we become a little bit less attached to material things. And we began looking at a bigger long-term picture, thinking about, you know, how we live together in community, how we live in relation to the land and how we can work together to solve this,” she said. 

Andrews is the co-founder of relief effort Grief and Hope, which aims to support creatives financially as they enter the long road ahead and was founded alongside a group of gallery directors, art professionals and artists like Bowers, Ariel Pittman, Olivia Gauthier and Julia V. Hendrickson. 

“Our primary goal is getting people triage money for just whatever the most emergent need is,” said Pittman. 

The fundraising effort began shortly after the fires broke out with a Go Fund Me seeking $500,000. They have now raised over $940,000 of their new $1 million goal via The Brick, a nonprofit art space. As of Tuesday, Grief and Hope had received more than 450 inquiries, and Pittman said the funds would be evenly distributed to applicants. The deadline for artists to submit a needs survey has concluded, but the relief effort will continue fundraising until mid-March. 

Grief and Hope also has five different groups of volunteers providing peer-to-peer support, helping with medical needs, safety issues and renter’s issues, and collecting survey data to better serve their creative community. 

“These are people who already have made very long-term commitments in their work, including the five of us, towards building community and building sustainability around artists and art workers in our city and beyond,” said Pittman. 

For Grief and Hope, creating a more sustainable future for artists throughout the city begins with affordable studio spaces and housing. 

Long road ahead 

For photographer Joy Wong, losing her home of eight years meant losing the beauty of Altadena. She described the overall area as “a pocket of heaven.” 

“I didn’t want to leave,” said Wong, who safely evacuated with her husband and 2-year-old daughter. “We were just so in love with this house, and it wasn’t just my house. It was also my studio space.” 

Many, like Obi, Wong and Huerta, have started GoFundMe accounts. Meanwhile, initiatives and relief efforts have popped up around Southern California, ready to assist with clothing donations, art supplies, professional equipment for creatives and more. 

“I’m applying to everything,” said Obi, who needs to replace his instruments and recording equipment. 

Wong said she’s received much support from family, friends and colleagues. 

“I think I just have to kind of lean on the community and get back into shooting,” she said. “I got to get all my gear back, too. It’s going to be a long road, but it’ll be OK.” 

Arts scene rebirth 

Superchief Gallery co-founder and director Bill Dunleavy said he believes that this is an opportunity to rebuild long-needed infrastructure for the arts throughout Los Angeles. 

“Quite a lot was lost in the areas affected by the fire. And it’s going to affect rent prices and studio prices and art markets and everything else,” said Dunleavy. “I’ve been so impressed with the amount of compassion that people feel and the sense of duty people have felt to help with this. … I hope that continues into the coming years.” 

Creative director Celina Rodriguez said she hopes freelance artists and creatives continue to work and shoot production or projects throughout the city, rather than leaving because of the wildfires. 

“Having lost so many locations that we would shoot, typically in Malibu, Topanga, the Palisades, all throughout, we will have to absolutely come together and figure out how we can continue working in Los Angeles … and urge people to shoot productions here,” she said. 

Rodriguez and Dunleavy began collecting donations at the Downtown Los Angeles gallery and within 48 hours transformed it into a bustling donation center with over 150 volunteers. The duo are now working with displaced families to make sure their daily needs are being met. 

Dunleavy said the relief effort has only encouraged him to take this work beyond just the donation center and explore the possibilities of nonprofit work for the community. 

“All of our wheels are turning now that we’ve seen the power that just self-organizing can have.”
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Couple challenges Vatican bank’s ban on workplace marriages

Posted on by SeeEU

ROME — Pope Francis has long urged couples to marry and have babies rather than dogs. And he has long championed the rights of workers and held up labor itself as the foundation of human dignity. So it has come as something of a surprise to many in the Holy See that the Vatican bank fired a newlywed couple, with three young children between them, after a new internal bank regulation went into effect barring workplace marriages.

The apparent contradiction between what the pope preaches and what his Vatican practices isn’t lost on Silvia Carlucci and Domenico Fabiani, who on Thursday challenged the ban in a wrongful termination lawsuit before the Vatican tribunal.

During the hearing, presiding Judge Venerando Marano asked if the two sides would consider a settlement. The couple is open to a deal but the bank refused, said the couple’s attorney Laura Sgro. A new hearing was scheduled for March 14.

Ahead of Thursday’s hearing, the couple told The Associated Press this week that they never once considered calling off their Aug. 31, 2024, nuptials after learning of the new regulation. And they said they couldn’t contemplate the bank’s suggestion that one of them quit to avoid running afoul of the new rule, because of financial obligations to their children, former spouses and new mortgage.

“I thought for sure there might have been an intervention by the Holy Father, who rightly gives so much emphasis and value to the role of the family,” Fabiani said in the office of his lawyer, with Carlucci by his side. “And yet here we find a family that works there and now finds itself on the street.”

Grasping for her husband’s hand, Carlucci was more blunt: “There’s a great contrast between what truly happens (in the Vatican) and what is promoted.”

A tipping point in employee discontent

The plight of the 41-year-olds, who between them worked for 25 years at the Institute for Religious Works, as the bank is known, has captured the attention of many in the Vatican, where employment has long been a coveted mark of status in overwhelmingly Catholic Italy.

A Vatican job comes with real benefits: tax-free income, access to a duty-free gas station, supermarket, pharmacy and department store and if lucky, access to below-market rents in some of the Holy See’s palazzi in Rome.

But for the past several years, amid a financial crisis that has resulted in hiring freezes, cuts to overtime, seniority bonuses and other benefits, employee discontent seems to be on the rise, with the Carlucci-Fabiani case something of a tipping point in a system where truly independent legal recourse doesn’t exist.

The Association of Lay Vatican Employees, the closest thing the Vatican has to a labor union, has taken up the couple’s cause, issuing an online solidarity appeal on their behalf. It has asserted that the new rule violates basic human rights as well as the Vatican’s fundamental laws and the church’s canon law, which in the Vatican take legal precedence over internal regulations.

“While we are confident that God will provide for them and their children, we cannot silence the voice of our conscience that recognizes the traits of injustice and lack of charity in the measure that affected these two former colleagues,” the online appeal reads. “The application of a regulation, while necessary in the governance of any institution, cannot fail to take into account the fact that any institution is made up of people and stands by virtue of the activity and professionalism of these same people.”

The unusual role of the Vatican bank The Institute for Religious Works, or IOR as it is known, is a peculiar institution, created in 1942 to help the church carry out its charitable mission while enabling Vatican embassies and religious orders in far-flung parts of the world to send and receive money when commercial banking might be problematic.

Located in a tower just steps inside Vatican City, the bank was long mired in scandal but spent over a decade cleaning up its books and ridding itself of its reputation as an offshore tax haven.

The reforms slimmed down its client base to around 12,300 customers among Vatican offices, employees, religious orders and embassies, who are served by a staff of around 100 at its lone Vatican branch.

According to the couple, the bank management announced a new personnel policy on May 2, laying out criteria for employment that said marriage between an IOR employee and another bank employee, or anyone else who works in the Vatican City State, was cause for termination.

The change shocked them: Three months earlier, they had told bank management of their plans to wed after securing the Catholic decrees of nullity for their previous marriages.

Carlucci got an advance on her yearly bonus to help secure their mortgage. They had formally publicized their pending nuptials in Rome city hall and their respective parishes. “They congratulated us, ‘A wedding, how wonderful this marriage. Great job, you made it,'” Carlucci recalls her superiors telling her.

But now, the couple doesn’t even have access to Italian unemployment benefits because of the nature of their termination, she said.

Couple’s employment terminated

The bank has strongly defended its policy as being consistent with best bank practices to promote transparency and impartiality and avoid conflicts of interest. It says it actually delayed implementing the policy until the last of five married couples in its workforce had retired in March.

With such a small staff and one branch, “this rule is in fact essential to prevent both inevitable professional conflicts of interest between the aspiring spouses concerned, as well as the emergence of possible familistic management doubts among its customers or the general public,” it said in a statement.

And yet anyone familiar with the Vatican knows plenty of married partners who work in the city state, not necessarily in the same department but among the 4,500 people employed by the Holy See.

While expressing “deep regret,” the bank said it had “reached the difficult decision” to terminate the couple’s employment on Oct. 1, a month after their church wedding. It is unclear why the bank didn’t just terminate one of the two. A transfer to an unrelated Vatican office wasn’t possible under the terms of the new regulation.

The pope seems aware morale is low

The couple had written to Francis personally, hoping he might intervene, but received no reply. Francis though seems keenly aware that employee morale is low and that times are tough for families. He recently approved the opening of the Vatican’s first day-care center, as well as a “baby bonus” of an extra 300 euros a month for Vatican employees with three or more children.

During his annual Christmas greetings to Vatican personnel last month, dedicated to the theme of family and work, Francis urged employees to talk to their managers if they have problems.

“If anyone has any special difficulties, please speak up, tell the people in charge, because we want to solve all difficulties,” Francis told the Dec. 21 audience, attended by far fewer people than in past years. “And this is done by dialogue and not by shouting or being silent.”

Carlucci would like her job back but says her new marriage and blended family matter more. “For us, family is at the basis of our entire lives, so no matter what happens and despite everything, we have won,” she said. 
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1 dead, thousands urged to evacuate as Australia’s northeast battles floods

Posted on by SeeEA

SYDNEY — One person died on Sunday in Australia’s north Queensland state in heavy flooding, authorities said, urging thousands of people to move to higher ground because of torrential rains.

Queensland authorities said major flooding was underway in coastal Hinchinbrook Shire, a locality of about 11,000 people about 500 kilometers north of state capital, Brisbane. Several suburbs in the nearby city of Townsville were also affected, authorities said.

North Queensland has large zinc reserves as well as major deposits of silver, lead, copper and iron ore. Townsville is a major processing center for the region’s base metals. In 2019, severe floods in the area disrupted lead and zinc concentrate rail shipments and damaged thousands of properties.

“Residents in low-lying areas should collect their evacuation kit and move to a safe place on higher ground. This situation may pose a threat to life and property,” regional emergency management authorities said on Sunday morning.

The flooding was triggered by heavy rain from a low-pressure system rich in tropical moisture, Australia’s weather forecaster said on its website, adding that 24-hour rainfall totals were likely up to 30 centimeters.

“The potential for heavy, locally intense rainfall and damaging winds may continue into early next week subject to the strength and position of the trough and low,” it said.

Frequent flooding has hit Australia’s east in recent years including “once in a century” floods that inundated the neighboring Northern Territory in January 2023 during a multiyear La Nina weather event. 
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UK to become 1st country to criminalize AI child abuse tools

Posted on by SeeEU

LONDON — Britain will become the first country to introduce laws against AI tools used to generate sexual abuse images, the government announced Saturday.

The government will make it illegal to possess, create or distribute AI tools designed to generate sexualized images of children, punishable by up to five years in prison, interior minister Yvette Cooper revealed.

It will also be illegal to possess AI “pedophile manuals” which teach people how to use AI to sexually abuse children, punishable by up to three years in prison.

“We know that sick predators’ activities online often lead to them carrying out the most horrific abuse in person,” said Cooper.

The new laws are “designed to keep our children safe online as technologies evolve. It is vital that we tackle child sexual abuse online as well as offline,” she added.

“Children will be protected from the growing threat of predators generating AI images and from online sexual abuse as the U.K. becomes the first country in the world to create new AI sexual abuse offences,” said a government statement.

AI tools are being used to generate child sexual abuse images by “nudeifying” real life images of children or by “stitching the faces of other children onto existing images,” said the government.

The new laws will also criminalize “predators who run websites designed for other pedophiles to share vile child sexual abuse content or advice on how to groom children,” punishable by up to ten years in prison, said the government.

The measures will be introduced as part of the Crime and Policing Bill when it comes to parliament.

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned of the growing number of sexual abuse AI images of children being produced.

Over a 30-day period in 2024, IWF analysts identified 3,512 AI child abuse images on a single dark web site.

The number of the most serious category of images also rose by 10% in a year, it found.
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US says life-saving HIV treatment can continue during aid pause

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department said Saturday that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) — the world’s leading HIV initiative — was covered by a waiver for life-saving humanitarian assistance during a 90-day pause in foreign aid.

Just hours after taking office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump ordered the pause so foreign aid contributions could be reviewed to see if they align with his “America First” foreign policy. The U.S. is the world’s largest aid donor.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially issued a waiver for emergency food aid and then Tuesday for life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence help. However, the lack of detail in Trump’s order and the ensuing waivers has left aid groups confused as to whether their work can continue.

So, Saturday the State Department’s Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy issued a memo, seen by Reuters, clarifying that PEPFAR was covered by the Jan. 28 memo and spelling out what activities were allowed.

These include life-saving HIV care and treatment services, including testing and counseling, prevention and treatment of infections including tuberculosis (TB), laboratory services, and procurement and supply chain for commodities/medicines. It also allows prevention of mother-to-child transmission services.

“Any other activities not specifically mentioned in this guidance may not be resumed without express approval,” it said.

More than 20 million people living with HIV, who represent two-thirds of all people living with the disease receiving treatment globally, are directly supported by PEPFAR.

Under Trump’s foreign aid pause, all payments by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) stopped Tuesday — for the first time since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1 — and have not resumed, according to U.S. Treasury data. On Monday USAID paid out $8 million and last week a total of $545 million.

The Trump administration is also moving to strip a slimmed-down USAID of its independence and put it under State Department control, two sources familiar with the discussions said Friday, in what would be a significant overhaul of how Washington allocates U.S. foreign aid. 
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Anti-graft protesters march, block bridges in Serbia

Posted on by SeeEU

NOVI SAD, SERBIA — Hundreds of students protesting graft they blame for 15 deaths in a building collapse marched Friday through Serbia to the northern city of Novi Sad where they planned to block three Danube River bridges this weekend. 

They received a hero’s welcome from fellow students and thousands of residents in Novi Said after arriving on foot in their two-day, 80-kilometer (50-mile) journey from the Serbian capital of Belgrade. 

A small red carpet had been placed on one of the bridges across the Danube that the students crossed as they entered the city. 

Saturday’s bridge blockade marks three months since a huge concrete construction at the railway station collapsed in Novi Sad on November 1, leaving 15 people dead. 

Carrying wreaths with the names of the 15 victims, the students from Novi Sad and Belgrade on Friday evening together headed toward the station building to honor the people who died in the accident. 

Many people cried when the students from Belgrade arrived, reflecting high emotions over the accident and the continuing struggle for justice. 

What started as a protest of suspected corruption in construction contracts has developed into the most serious challenge in years to the country’s powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic. 

Meanwhile in Belgrade, a driver rammed a car into a silent protest Friday, injuring two women who work as doctors at a nearby psychiatric institution. Media reports say both hit their heads on the pavement and are being examined. 

The incident, the third of its kind in weeks, happened in downtown Belgrade during 15 minutes of silence observed daily throughout Serbia, at the same time as the canopy collapsed in Novi Sad. 

A witness, Dr. Elena Matkovic, told N1 television that the driver first reversed his car for a short distance, and the protesters thought he would turn around, away from the blockade, but instead he accelerated forward, slamming into people. 

“We really did not expect that he would drive through a crowd of people,” she told N1. “If you are asking me whether we will stop (the blockades,) we most certainly will not. This is not the moment to stop.” 

Protesters have repeatedly faced attacks, including on students, with drivers ramming cars into demonstrations on two previous occasions. Two people were seriously injured. 

Along the way to Novi Sad on Friday, the students were greeted by cheering citizens who honked their car horns or came out of their homes to offer food and drinks. 

Hundreds more people on bicycles headed separately toward Novi Sad on Friday while Belgrade’s taxi drivers said they would come too and give the marchers a lift home Sunday. 

When the students reached the town of Indija on Thursday, roughly halfway along their 80-kilometer (50-mile) route, they were welcomed with fireworks and cheers from residents. 

Although most of them spent the night out in the open in a soccer field, the freezing temperatures did not dampen their desire for major change in the corruption-ridden Balkan state. 

Nevena Vecerinac, a student, said she hoped the protesters’ demands that include the punishment of all those responsible for the rail station tragedy will be fulfilled. 

“We need support from all people. With this energy and mood, I hope we can do it, otherwise there will be no brighter future,” said Luka Arsenovic, another student marcher. 

Many in Serbia believe that the collapse of the overhang at the train station was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies. Critics believe graft led to a sloppy job during the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, poor oversight and disrespect of existing safety regulations. 

Monthslong demonstrations have already forced the resignation of Serbia’s Prime Minister Milos Vucevic this week, along with various concessions from authorities that were ignored by the protesters who say that is not enough. 

Vucic and other officials have shifted from accusing the students of working with foreign powers to oust him from power, to offering concessions to the students while issuing veiled threats against them saying that his supporters’ “patience is running out.” 

He said Friday that “it is clear that the country is under attack both from the outside and from the inside.” 

“We will know how to fight, we will be flexible, we will seek conversation and dialogue (with the protesters), but we will know how to save the country,” he said.

The strength and determination of the protesters have caught many by surprise in a country where hundreds of thousands of young people have emigrated, looking for opportunities elsewhere. 
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Israel’s Netanyahu to travel to Washington for meeting with Trump

Posted on by SeeUS

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, Hamas frees three more Israeli hostages — including a dual U.S. citizen — and Israel frees dozens of Palestinian prisoners. The next phase of the Gaza ceasefire is expected to be on the agenda when the leaders meet on Tuesday. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem.
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US strikes stronghold of Islamic State affiliate in Somalia

Posted on by SeeAF

WASHINGTON — U.S. warplanes took aim at the Islamic State affiliate in Somalia, hitting what officials described as high-ranking operatives in the terror group’s mountainous stronghold.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the precision strike Saturday on social media, describing the main target as a “Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led.”

“These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies,” Trump said. “The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians.”

A separate statement from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes targeted an area in Somalia’s Golis mountains, and “further degrades ISIS’s ability to plot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians.”

Neither Trump nor Hegseth named the IS planner, though U.S. officials said the strikes were carried out in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia.

General Adan Abdi Hashi, commander of the Puntland Devish Forces said the airstrikes targeted at least 10 locations of the Islamic State militants in the Cal-Miskaad area, which is part of the Golis mountains.

“The strikes targeted about 10 locations in the Cal-Miskaad areas, most of them caves, and we believe that many of the militants were killed,” said the general.

Residents in Qandala, a small town in Bari region of Puntland told VOA on the condition of anonymity because they feared for their lives, that they could see from the distance plumes of smoke and flames, and that they could hear at least seven huge explosions.

Officials from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region thanked the U.S. on social media, calling the operation a success.

“The latest airstrike, carried out today, resulted in the elimination of several high-ranking #ISIS members,” according to the statement.

U.S. Africa Command, which oversees U.S, military efforts on the continent, said it, too, assessed multiple terror operatives had been killed.

The Islamic State, also known as IS or Daesh, has increasingly played a key role in the terror group’s operations in Africa and beyond.

Since 2022, Somalia has been home to al-Karrar, one of nine regional Islamic State offices established to help sustain the terror group’s capabilities. As a result, IS-Somalia has become both a key cog in the IS financial network, funneling money to affiliates in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Africa.

IS-Somalia has, at the same time, become more influential under the leadership of Abdulkadir Mumin, a former militant with the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab, who is thought to now head IS’ directorate of provinces, overseeing the terror group’s affiliates in Africa.

Some U.S. officials worry Mumin has risen even higher, perhaps acting as the Islamic State’s top emir. Others disagree but there is consensus that Mumin is nonetheless a pivotal figure.

The U.S. previously targeted Mumin in May of last year.

Recent intelligence assessments have further warned IS-Somalia has more than doubled in size over the past year and may now boast up to as many as 1,600 fighters, bolstered by an influx of fighters from Ethiopia, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania and Yemen.

Most of IS-Somalia’s manpower has been concentrated in Puntland, especially in the Golis Mountains, also known as the Cal-Miskaad mountains.

Saturday’s airstrike, the first against IS in Somalia so far this year, was carried out by fighter jets launched from the USS Harry S. Truman, currently in the Red Sea, according to defense officials who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of the operation.

It comes as Somali forces in Puntland continue a military offensive against ISIS militants hiding in Cal-Miskaad mountains. Puntland also thanked the United Arab Emirates which they say provided air support to the ongoing offensive.

The operations, which started in late December, drove militants from vast areas in the northeastern highlands of Somalia.

The militants, many of them foreigners, have claimed carrying out IED attacks against Puntland forces.

The fiercest clashes occurred late last week when the regional forces dislodged the militants from Turmasaale, a strategic location about 150 kilometers southeast of Bosaso.

The Somali government called Saturday’s airstrikes by the U.S. “a critical step in our shared fight against terrorism.”

“The Federal Government of Somalia welcomes the firm and decisive counterterrorism efforts led by the United States,” it said in a statement. “Together, we will continue to dismantle extremist networks … and build a future free from the scourge of terrorism.”
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Third expulsion attempt fails as migrants in Albania returned to Italy

Posted on by SeeEU

SHENGJIN, ALBANIA — An Italian navy ship on Saturday took migrants to Italy from asylum processing centers in Albania following a court decision in Rome. It was the third failed attempt by Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government to process migrants in the non-EU country.

A coast guard ship took 43 migrants from the port of Shengjin, 66 kilometers northwest of the capital, Tirana. They were among the 49 men who were transferred to Albania on an Italian naval ship Tuesday. Six were returned the same day for being minors or deemed vulnerable.

Italian media reported the men were from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Gambia.

An Italian appeals court in Rome on Friday refused to approve the speedy expulsion of 43 asylum-seekers detained in Albania since Tuesday under a controversial migration deal to move the proceedings beyond European Union borders.

The court referred the case to the European Court of Justice, in Luxembourg, which is expected to issue a ruling on Feb. 25 related to the previous cases, in which the series of lower court rulings have opened a fissure between the Meloni government and the Italian judicial system.

In October and November, judges similarly refused to approve the expulsion of much smaller groups of migrants, seeking clarity from the European court on which countries were safe for repatriation of people whose asylum claims are rejected.

Italy last year signed a five-year agreement to process up to 3,000 migrants a month beyond EU borders as part of Meloni’s program to combat illegal migration to Italy, which is the first landfall for tens of thousands of migrants who make the perilous journey across the central Mediterranean Sea.

While the agreement has raised concerns among human rights activists, European partners have expressed interest in the project.

In the first four weeks of this year, 3,704 migrants arrived in Italy, almost three times as many as in the same period last year. In the whole of last year, 66,317 migrants arrived in Italy, a drop of 58% from the previous year. The largest nationality was Bangladeshis, followed by Syrians, Tunisians and Egyptians, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
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Trump says Venezuela agrees to receive undocumented migrants captured in US

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Venezuela has agreed to receive all Venezuelan undocumented migrants captured in the United States and pay for their transport.

“Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

He said Venezuela has also agreed to provide transportation.

The Venezuelan government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

U.S. envoy Richard Grenell met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in the South American country on Friday. Hours after their meeting, six American hostages were released and returned to the United States from Venezuela.

The announcement of Venezuela’s decision to accept the return of its citizens who were illegally in the United States comes one week after Trump threatened to impose tariffs and sanctions after Colombia refused to accept military flights carrying deportees.

Colombia reversed its course and agreed to accept migrants following the threats.

“We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all countries,” said Trump, who vowed to crack down on illegal immigration in his 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump, a Republican, issued an array of executive orders to crack down on illegal immigration after taking office on Jan. 20, including actions aimed at deporting record numbers of migrants in the U.S. without legal status.
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Paramilitary group attacks open market in Sudan, killing 54

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CAIRO — An attack on an open market in the Sudanese city of Omdurman by a paramilitary group fighting the country’s military killed 54 people and wounded many more, health authorities said Saturday.

The attack by the Rapid Support Forces on the Sabrein Market also wounded at least 158 others, the Health Ministry said in a statement. It was the latest in a series of deadly attacks in the escalated civil war that has wrecked the northeastern African country.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

Khalid al-Aleisir, minister of culture and government spokesperson, condemned the attack, saying that the casualties included many women and children. He also said the attack caused “widespread destruction to private and public properties.”

“This criminal act adds to the bloody record of this militia,” he said in a statement. “It constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law.”

Sudan’s Doctors Syndicate condemned the RSF’s attack. It said one shell hit meters from al-Naw hospital, which received most of the market casualties.

It said most of the bodies taken to the hospital were of women and children, adding that the hospital has a significant shortage of medical teams, especially surgeons and nurses.

The conflict in Sudan started in April 2023 when simmering tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities across the sprawling northeastern African country.

Saturday’s attack was the latest tragedy in the country’s brutal civil war. Last week, about 70 people were killed in a RSF attack on the only functional hospital in the besieged city of El Fasher in the western region of Darfur.

The conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, has forced millions to flee their homes and has left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.

It has been marked by gross atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the United Nations and rights groups.

The International Criminal Court said it was investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. And the Biden administration had accused the RSF and its proxies of committing genocide in the war.

In recent months the RSF has suffered multiple battlefield blows, giving the military the upper hand in the war. It has lost control of many areas in Khartoum, the capital’s sister city of Omdurman, and the eastern and central provinces.

The military also regained control of the city of Wad Medani, the capital of Gezira province, and the country’s largest oil refinery.
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Russia says it is advancing toward flashpoint Ukrainian city

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KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia said on Saturday it had captured a village flanking the eastern flashpoint city of Toretsk in Ukraine as Kyiv said four people had died in overnight Russian strikes.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops seized the village of Krymske in the northeastern suburbs of Toretsk, located in the eastern Donetsk region and the scene of intense fighting in recent months.

The Russian army is slowly but steadily advancing in Donetsk, despite heavy human and material losses.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian troops in the region said there was intense fighting in urban areas of Toretsk and Chasiv Yar, a strategically important military hub on the front line.

DeepState, a group of Ukrainian military analysts, says Russian forces have been in the center of the two contested cities for months.

4 killed in Russian strikes

Overnight, at least four people died in Russian strikes on the central Ukrainian city of Poltava and the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

Ukrainian authorities had issued air raid alerts for the entire country just before 7 a.m. Saturday, warning of missile and drone threats in several regions.

Ukrainian emergency services said on Telegram a “missile strike on a residential building” in Poltava had killed at least three people and wounded at least 13, three of them seriously.

They published images showing firefighters searching through the smoldering ruins of a building.

‘Russian terror’

In Kharkiv, a Russian drone shot down by air defense fell on a residential area, killing a woman and injuring four other people, regional Governor Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its overnight strikes had hit gas and energy infrastructure that supply Ukraine’s “military-industrial complexes.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attacks showed his country needed more defense systems to protect itself from “Russian terror.”

He said, “Last night, Russia attacked our cities using various types of weapons: missiles, attack drones, air bombs.

“Every air defense system, every anti-missile is a lifesaver. It is very important that our partners act … and increase pressure on Russia, ” Zelenskyy said, adding that damage had been reported in six regions — Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia.

2 killed in Ukrainian attack

Earlier this week, Ukraine launched a major drone attack on western Russia, killing a child and his mother and setting a refinery on fire.

The full Russian invasion of its neighbor enters its fourth year this month.

U.S. President Donald Trump said during his election campaign he could end the conflict within 24 hours of taking office on Jan. 20. He has been critical of the amount Washington has spent arming Ukraine and has also threatened to impose additional sanctions on Russia.
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Myanmar scam operations move south along Thai border

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BANGKOK — Myanmar’s scam operations are expanding south along Thailand’s border, authorities have told VOA in recent days, and will continue operating as long as their access to SIM cards, Starlink satellites, electricity and the key human resources — scammers — continues.

The Myawaddy area in Myanmar, opposite the Thai border town of Mae Sot, is the “global capital” of scams, opposition People’s Party lawmaker Rangsiman Rome told VOA on Wednesday.

“We are talking about an empire,” he said, estimating the number of scammers in at least 40 major compounds there at around 300,000.

“They have scammed more than the entire gross domestic product of some countries, and there is no end to their operations in sight,” said Rangsiman, who is chair of the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Border Affairs.

Powered by billions of dollars of illicit money from their scams, the crime bosses are already moving to new sites further south from Myawaddy along the Thai border, police, politicians and former scammers have told VOA.

New scam bases have already been set up hundreds of kilometers south of Mae Sot, in border areas of Myanmar held by ethnic rebels across from Thailand’s Sangkhlaburi district, a security attaché at a Southeast Asian embassy in Bangkok who deals directly with scam victims told VOA, requesting anonymity.

“The scam compounds are expanding far south of Myawaddy,” the source said.

A toxic mix of cross-border criminal interests, the protection of ethnic armed groups and Myanmar’s junta, has enabled the scam gangs to flourish, virtually in the open.

“What I’m most concerned with is about how Thai ‘grey money’ has operated as the wings for Chinese ‘grey money’ which makes enforcing the law even more impossible,” Rangsiman said, without elaborating on who he believes is backing the scam gangs.

Billions in losses estimated

A United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime report last year estimated losses of between $18 billion and $37 billion from scams across East and Southeast Asia in 2023 alone.

The scam networks are mainly operated by Chinese criminals in China or elsewhere, using foreign nationals from around the world to carry out elaborate romance or investment scams, hunting for victims online or through cold calls. Many of them have been tricked into traveling to Thailand for well-paying jobs but are trafficked into Myanmar instead to work as scammers against their will.

Last year Chinese authorities crossed into Myanmar and arrested over 50,000 of their nationals operating in scam factories along the eastern border with Yunnan province.

New scam rooms are cropping up to the south, including along Myanmar’s border with Thailand’s Kachanburi province — Rangsiman pointed to the border along Thailand’s Phop Phra district, 35 kilometers south of Mae Sot, and Payathonzu, in Myanmar’s Karen state and across from Sangkhlaburi, 300 kilometers from Mae Sot.

China’s deputy minister of public security, Liu Zhongyi, visited Mae Sot on Wednesday, a trip signaling Beijing’s prioritization of the scam issue in Myawaddy, according to Thai Police General Thatchai Pitanilabut, who is head of the Combat Call Center Crimes and Human Trafficking Task Force.

“Beijing is taking this matter very seriously,” he told reporters after the visit.

As “a transit route” to the scam rooms, Thailand needs to tackle the problem, as it is “giving us a bad image as someone who is an accomplice to human trafficking for the call center gangs,” he said.

Thai law enforcement authorities, which are working with the UNODC and other entities on the issue, have said they are committed to assisting and protecting victims of human trafficking as well as investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of call center crimes and human trafficking.

The scrutiny comes after a flurry of high-profile rescues of Chinese citizens tricked into scamming in Myawaddy. They include actor Wang Xing, who was rescued in early January after his case went viral on social media.

Thatchai said there are immediate measures Thailand can take to rein in the scam gangs.

“First and foremost, we must intercept and block all the supplies, including receivers, antennas, SIM boxes, and Starlink satellite internet dishes from leaving our borders,” he said, referring to the portable kits providing access to high-speed internet from Starlink, which have become essential tools for the scammers.

Rangsiman confirmed the movement of scam centers further south and added that the Thai Interior Ministry, acting through its Provincial Electricity Authority, could cut the power into Myawaddy, which is under consideration, but is yet to do so.

Questions are also being asked by foreign embassies about how vast numbers of foreigners from such disparate countries as Kenya and Japan have been able to cross a remote Thai border into Myanmar, seemingly without the knowledge of Thai authorities. It should be noted, though, that the Thai-Myanmar border is marked by the Moei River, which at some points can be as narrow as 10 meters.

Three police chiefs in charge of three Mae Sot police stations were transferred from their roles this week pending a probe into failing to stop human trafficking into Myanmar.

China holds the key to shutting down the Myawaddy scam base, said Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s former premier and a powerful tycoon whose daughter, Paetongtarn, is prime minister.

“China has major clout over Myanmar. We can’t speak to the Myanmar government directly … so we need China to help us,” he told reporters Thursday, referring to Myanmar’s post-coup junta.

Trafficking victims or not

With a crackdown seemingly imminent, human rights groups are urging Thailand to ensure foreigners tricked into working in the scam rooms are freed and treated as human trafficking victims.

Others who have recently left Myawaddy scam rooms paint a more complex picture of the motives of some of the rank-and-file scammers.

“It’s in the news everywhere, social media, it’s impossible for them not to be aware,” a Filipino woman who voluntarily went into one of the most notorious scam rooms told VOA, requesting that her name not be used.

“It’s sad but true … money is the only reason, and it is luring people into work,” she said.

The fear of a major Chinese-led crackdown has meant the scam bosses are now recruiting people who know what they are getting into rather than trafficking unsuspecting people, the woman said.

“The new ‘policy’ is that people need to be aware of what type of job they are taking on,” she said.
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Democrats to elect leader as party struggles to regroup

Posted on by SeeUS

OXON HILL, MARYLAND — Democrats, seeking a new message and messengers to push back against the Trump administration, will elect a new leader Saturday in a low-profile Democratic National Committee election that could have big implications for the party’s future.

More than 400 DNC members from every state and U.S. territory have gathered in suburban Washington for the election, which features a slate of candidates dominated by party insiders. Outgoing Chair Jaime Harrison is not seeking reelection.

Most of the candidates acknowledge that the Democratic brand is badly damaged, but few are promising fundamental changes. Indeed, nearly three months after Donald Trump won the popular vote and gained ground among key Democratic constituencies, there is little agreement on what exactly went wrong.

Facing an emboldened Trump presidency, however, the leading candidates are talking tough. “As we reel with shock at the horror that Trump is visiting on communities across this country, we need a DNC and a DNC chair who’s ready to bring the intensity, the focus and the fury to fight back,” said Ben Wikler, the Wisconsin Democratic chair and a top candidate for DNC chair.

The election comes less than two weeks after Trump’s inauguration and as Democratic leaders struggle to confront the sheer volume of executive orders, pardons, personnel changes and controversial relationships taking shape in the new administration. The next DNC chair would serve as a face of the Democratic response, while helping to coordinate political strategy and repair the party’s brand.

Just 31% of voters have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this week that offers a dramatic contrast with Trump’s GOP. Forty-three percent of voters have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party.

The leading candidates for DNC chair, Wisconsin’s Wikler and Minnesota’s Ken Martin, are low-profile state party chairs. They’re promising to refocus the Democratic message on working-class voters, strengthen Democratic infrastructure across the country and improve the party’s anti-Trump rapid response system. They have promised not to shy away from the party’s dedication to diversity and minority groups, a pillar of the modern-day Democratic Party.

But if Martin, 51, or Wikler, 43, is elected, as expected, either would be the first white man to lead the DNC since 2011.

Also in the race: Marianne Williamson, the activist and author; former Maryland governor and Biden administration official Martin O’Malley; and Faiz Shakir, who managed Bernie Sanders’ last presidential campaign.

Shakir has called for sweeping changes within the party, such as more coordination with labor unions and less focus on minority groups sorted by race and gender. The only Muslim seeking the chairmanship, Shakir was alone during a candidate forum this week in opposing the creation of a Muslim caucus at the DNC. But he has struggled to gain traction. Shakir declined to raise money for the contest, decorating his modest booth at this week’s gathering with pictures drawn by his young children with crayons.

By contrast, Martin and Wikler hosted would-be supporters in large hotel suites adorned with dozens of professionally printed signs and offered T-shirts, sunglasses and food.

Wikler has faced questions about his relationship with Democratic donor Reid Hoffman, the billionaire cofounder of LinkedIn. But he cast his fundraising connections as an asset. Indeed, the DNC chair is expected to raise tens of millions of dollars to help Democrats win elections.

Some Democratic leaders remain concerned about the direction of their party. “As positive as I am and as hopeful as I am, I’m watching this in real time, thinking to myself, ‘We’re in real trouble because I don’t see a desire to change,’” said Kansas Democratic Chair Jeanna Repass, a candidate for DNC vice chair.
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Mushers, dogs braved Alaska winter to deliver lifesaving serum 100 years ago

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ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — The Alaska Gold Rush town of Nome faced a bleak winter. It was hundreds of miles from anywhere, cut off by the frozen sea and unrelenting blizzards, and under siege from a contagious disease known as the “strangling angel” for the way it suffocated children. 

Now, 100 years later, Nome is remembering its saviors — the sled dogs and mushers who raced for more than five days through hypothermia, frostbite, gale-force winds and blinding whiteouts to deliver lifesaving serum and free the community from the grip of diphtheria. 

Among the events celebrating the centennial of the 1925 “Great Race of Mercy” are lectures, a dog-food drive and a reenactment of the final leg of the relay, all organized by the Nome Kennel Club. 

Alaskans honor ‘heroic effort’ 

“There’s a lot of fluff around celebrations like this, but we wanted to remember the mushers and their dogs who have been at the center of this heroic effort and … spotlight mushing as a still-viable thing for the state of Alaska,” said Diana Haecker, a kennel club board member and co-owner of Alaska’s oldest newspaper, The Nome Nugget. 

“People just dropped whatever they were doing,” she said. “These mushers got their teams ready and went, even though it was really cold and challenging conditions on the trail.” 

Other communities are also marking the anniversary — including the village of Nenana, where the relay began, and Cleveland, Ohio, where the serum run’s most famous participant, a husky mix named Balto, is stuffed and displayed at a museum. 

Jonathan Hayes, a Maine resident who has been working to preserve the genetic line of sled dogs driven on the run by famed musher Leonhard Seppala, is recreating the trip. Hayes left Nenana on Monday with 16 Seppala Siberian sled dogs, registered descendants of Seppala’s team. 

A race to save lives

Diphtheria is an airborne disease that causes a thick, suffocating film on the back of the throat; it was once a leading cause of death for children. The antitoxin used to treat it was developed in 1890, and a vaccine in 1923; it is now exceedingly rare in the U.S. 

Nome, western Alaska’s largest community, had about 1,400 residents a century ago. Its most recent supply ship had arrived the previous fall, before the Bering Sea froze, without any doses of the antitoxin. Those the local doctor, Curtis Welch, had were outdated, but he wasn’t worried. He hadn’t seen a case of diphtheria in the 18 years he had practiced in the area. 

Within months, that changed. In a telegram, Welch pleaded with the U.S. Public Health Service to send serum: “An epidemic of diphtheria is almost inevitable here.” 

The first death was a 3-year-old boy on January 20, 1925, followed the next day by a 7-year-old girl. By the end of the month, there were more than 20 confirmed cases. The city was placed under quarantine. 

West Coast hospitals had antitoxin doses, but it would take time to get them to Seattle, Washington, and then onto a ship for Seward, Alaska, an ice-free port south of Anchorage, Alaska. In the meantime, enough for 30 people was found at an Anchorage hospital. 

It still had to get to Nome. Airplanes with open-air cockpits were ruled out as unsuited for the weather. There were no roads or trains that reached Nome. 

Instead, officials shipped the serum by rail to Nenana in interior Alaska, some 1,086 kilometers (675 miles) from Nome via the frozen Yukon River and mail trails. 

Thanks to Alaska’s new telegraph lines and the spread of radio, the nation followed along, captivated, as 20 mushers — many of them Alaska Natives — with more than 150 dogs relayed the serum to Nome. They battled deep snow, whiteouts so severe they couldn’t see the dogs in front of them, and life-threatening temperatures that plunged at times to minus minus 51 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit).

The antitoxin was transported in glass vials covered with padded quilts. Not a single vial broke. 

Seppala, a Norwegian settler, left from Nome to meet the supply near the halfway point and begin the journey back. His team, led by his dog Togo, traveled more than 320 kilometers (250 miles) of the relay, including a treacherous stretch across frozen Norton Sound. 

After about 5 1/2 days, the serum reached its destination on February 2, 1925. A banner front-page headline in the San Francisco Chronicle proclaimed “Dogs victors over blizzard in battle to succor stricken Nome.” 

The official record listed five deaths and 29 illnesses. It’s likely the toll was higher; Alaska Natives were not accurately tracked. 

Balto gains fame 

Seppala and Togo missed the limelight that went to his assistant, Gunnar Kaasen, who drove the dog team led by Balto into Nome. Balto was another of Seppala’s dogs, but was used to only haul freight after he was deemed too slow to be on a competitive team.

Balto was immortalized in movies and with statues in New York’s Central Park and one in Anchorage intended as a tribute to all sled dogs. He received a bone-shaped key to the city of Los Angeles, where legendary movie actress Mary Pickford placed a wreath around his neck. 

But he and several team members were eventually sold and kept in squalid conditions at a dime museum in Los Angeles. After learning of their plight, an Ohio businessman spearheaded an effort to raise money to bring them to Cleveland, a city in Ohio. After dying in 1933, Balto was mounted and placed on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. 

Iditarod pays homage to run 

Today, the most famous mushing event in the world is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which is not based on the serum run but on the Iditarod Trail, a supply route from Seward to Nome. Iditarod organizers are nevertheless marking the serum run’s centennial with a series of articles on its website and by selling replicas of the medallions each serum run musher received a century ago, race spokesperson Shannon Noonan said in an email. This year’s Iditarod starts March 1. 

“The Serum Run demonstrated the critical role sled dogs played in the survival and communication of remote Alaskan communities, while the Iditarod has evolved into a celebration of that tradition and Alaska’s pioneering spirit,” Noonan said. 
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South African woman has rescued more than 2,500 pugs

Posted on by SeeAF

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — Lots of hair shedding, tons of fun, and a constant invasion of your personal space. 

That’s what you’re going to get with a pug, according to Cheryl Gaw, who has seen more than a few of the squashed-nosed pups in her time. 

Gaw has rescued more than 2,500 pugs in South Africa over the years after she and her husband sold their house, lived in a trailer home for a while and generally reset their lives to help as many dogs in need as they could. 

They eventually established their Pug Rescue South Africa in Johannesburg in 2010 because of an overflowing number of dogs in their house. It was “never part of the plan” when they looked ahead to their retirement, said Gaw, who is 63. “Of course, the pugs won,” she added. 

The center is currently home to nearly 200 pugs, the latest batch who have hit hard times and need a helping paw. Some of them were abandoned, some sick, and many were given up by owners who couldn’t look after them anymore. 

Gaw’s pug life started in 2008 when her husband, Malcolm, gave her one as a gift. At a pug club, someone asked if they’d be interested in providing a foster home for “a couple” of pugs. In the first year, the Gaws provided a temporary home to 60 pugs and had 19 in their home at one point — too much fur for one small house. 

“They are known as the clowns of the dog world, and they can make you laugh,” said Gaw, giving her own breed guide. “Always in your space. They’re just an amazing, lovable breed. And you always have hair on you.” 

The rescue center’s staff do their best to keep order. The routine is: 5:15 a.m., the dogs wake up and come out of the cottages where they sleep in groups according to their “age and personality,” said Gaw. Then there’s breakfast, medication for those who need it, bathtime, playtime, grooming time, midday snacks, afternoon rest, more playtime, evening meal, more medication, and all pugs back in their rooms between 6-7 p.m. 

Fights occasionally break out. The veterinary bill for the center is nearly $40,000 a year, and it’s a constant process of rescue, rehabilitation, and trying to rehome them, with more pugs arriving all the time. 

“The operation doesn’t stop,” said Gaw. 

There is a reason why so many pugs need a new home. Their short muzzles, a mark of the breed, give rise to breathing problems and other health issues such as eye and ear infections, she said. A pug’s vet costs are not to be sniffed at and Gaw warns prospective owners to do their homework and get a good pet insurance policy: “You’re going to need it.” 

Many of the pugs have come to the Gaws because their owners can’t afford those vet bills. Be prepared for their problems, she said, and also the hair, which she can’t stress enough. 

“They shed an enormous amount of hair,” she said. “You can brush them all day long, they still shed.” 
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New Zealand mountain is granted personhood, recognizing it as sacred for Maori

Posted on by SeeEA

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND — A mountain in New Zealand considered an ancestor by Indigenous people was recognized as a legal person on Thursday after a new law granted it all the rights and responsibilities of a human being.

Mount Taranaki — now known as Taranaki Maunga, its Maori name — is the latest natural feature to be granted personhood in New Zealand, which has ruled that a river and a stretch of sacred land are people before. The pristine, snow-capped dormant volcano is the second highest on New Zealand’s North Island at 2,518 meters and a popular spot for tourism, hiking and snow sports.

The legal recognition acknowledges the mountain’s theft from the Māori of the Taranaki region after New Zealand was colonized. It fulfills an agreement of redress from the country’s government to Indigenous people for harms perpetrated against the land since.

How can a mountain be a person?

The law passed Thursday gives Taranaki Maunga all the rights, powers, duties, responsibilities and liabilities of a person. Its legal personality has a name: Te Kahui Tupua, which the law views as “a living and indivisible whole.” It includes Taranaki and its surrounding peaks and land, “incorporating all their physical and metaphysical elements.”

A newly created entity will be “the face and voice” of the mountain, the law says, with four members from local Maori iwi, or tribes, and four members appointed by the country’s conservation minister.

Why is this mountain special?

“The mountain has long been an honored ancestor, a source of physical, cultural and spiritual sustenance and a final resting place,” Paul Goldsmith, the lawmaker responsible for the settlements between the government and Maori tribes, told Parliament in a speech on Thursday.

But colonizers of New Zealand in the 18th and 19th centuries took first the name of Taranaki and then the mountain itself. In 1770, the British explorer Captain James Cook spotted the peak from his ship and named it Mount Egmont.

In 1840, Maori tribes and representatives of the British crown signed the Treaty of Waitangi — New Zealand’s founding document — in which the Crown promised Maori would retain rights to their land and resources. But the Maori and English versions of the treaty differed — and Crown breaches of both began immediately.

In 1865, a vast swathe of Taranaki land, including the mountain, was confiscated to punish Maori for rebelling against the Crown. Over the next century hunting and sports groups had a say in the mountain’s management — but Maori did not.

“Traditional Maori practices associated with the mountain were banned while tourism was promoted,” Goldsmith said. But a Maori protest movement of the 1970s and ’80s has led to a surge of recognition for the Maori language, culture and rights in New Zealand law.

Redress has included billions of dollars in Treaty of Waitangi settlements — such as the agreement with the eight tribes of Taranaki, signed in 2023.

How will the mountain use its rights?

“Today, Taranaki, our maunga, our maunga tupuna, is released from the shackles, the shackles of injustice, of ignorance, of hate,” said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, a co-leader of the political party Te Pati Maori and a descendant of the Taranaki tribes, using a phrase that means ancestral mountain.

“We grew up knowing there was nothing anyone could do to make us any less connected,” she added.

The mountain’s legal rights are intended to uphold its health and wellbeing. They will be employed to stop forced sales, restore its traditional uses and allow conservation work to protect the native wildlife that flourishes there. Public access will remain.

Do other parts of New Zealand have personhood?

New Zealand was the first country in the world to recognize natural features as people when a law passed in 2014 granted personhood to Te Urewera, a vast native forest on the North Island. Government ownership ceased and the tribe Tuhoe became its guardian.

“Te Urewera is ancient and enduring, a fortress of nature, alive with history; its scenery is abundant with mystery, adventure, and remote beauty,” the law begins, before describing its spiritual significance to Maori. In 2017, New Zealand recognized the Whanganui River as human, as part of a settlement with its local iwi.

How much support did the law receive?

The bill recognizing the mountain’s personhood was affirmed unanimously by Parliament’s 123 lawmakers. The vote was greeted by a ringing waiata — a Maori song — from the public gallery, packed with dozens who had traveled to the capital, Wellington, from Taranaki.

The unity provided brief respite in a tense period for race relations in New Zealand. In November, tens of thousands of people marched to Parliament to protest a law that would reshape the Treaty of Waitangi by setting rigid legal definitions for each clause. Detractors say the law — which is not expected to pass — would strip Maori of legal rights and dramatically reverse progress from the past five decades. 
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Trump’s funding freeze hits program for Burmese students, scholars

Posted on by SeeUS

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze $45 million in U.S. federal funding for over 400 Burmese students has left many in shock and dismay as their scholarships were abruptly canceled.

The move has also raised concerns about the broader impact it could have on Burmese in Myanmar, a country already grappling with political turmoil and a collapsing education system under military rule.

Students in limbo

One Burmese student who studies at Chiang Mai University in Thailand told VOA that she feels completely lost after learning that her scholarship was being suspended.

“To be honest, I am lost because of this sudden loss of my scholarship. I had been studying with the goal of earning a degree, and now I don’t know what to do,” she said. The student spoke with VOA on condition of anonymity because she fears for her safety if she returns to Burma, which remains under military control.

She said students like her and others at different academic levels are now left without financial support.

“There are students doing four-year master’s degrees, others in four-year bachelor’s programs, and even PhD students. I don’t know whether I should continue my studies, go home, or what my next step should be,” she said. “I am saddened that President Trump only cares about the United States and has cut off my studies.”

An email sent to recipients of the program that was shared with VOA’s Burmese Service, said the Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Program, or DISP, is currently suspended, and officials “will review whether to continue the scholarship for the students who have been awarded it.”

DISP was created to support Burmese students from marginalized and underprivileged backgrounds, giving them opportunities to study at universities across Asia, including the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand. The program also provided funding for online education through the University of Arizona.

For many, the initiative was their only chance to pursue higher education outside of Burma, where the junta-controlled education system has systematically restricted access for those opposing the military regime.

For some students, the immediate impact has been less severe.

Hlwan Paing Thi Ha, who has been studying at Chiang Mai University for a year, told VOA: “My education has already been paid for through the scholarship program, so it hasn’t impacted me yet.” 

Future leaders impacted

One source who has in-depth understanding of the program, said the impact goes beyond just access to education and opportunities. The source spoke with VOA on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak with the media.

More than a quarter of the Burmese students in the program have fled Myanmar due to the military coup, ongoing fighting and forced conscription, which has targeted youth.

“The impact is huge,” the source said, adding that currently, more than 400 Burmese students are attending universities in four countries—the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand through the USAID-funded program.

“Of these, 110 were directly recruited from Myanmar, while the rest are students who fled to border regions and Southeast Asian countries due to the military coup or boycotted Myanmar’s junta-controlled education system,” the source said.

The program, which was launched in February 2024, was designed as a five-year initiative, with plans to recruit three batches of students over that period.

“The goal was to ensure that at least 1,000 Burmese students, the ‘current and future leaders of the country,’ could continue their studies in universities across the region. The second batch, which would include hundreds of students, is now in the final stage of the screening process,” the source explained.

Debate continues

In Washington a debate over the freeze and review continues.

On Tuesday, the State Department issued a waiver that exempts some humanitarian aid from the freeze. U.S. lawmakers have also voiced concerns, warning that the freeze will impact American soft power and give China an advantage.

On Wednesday, President Trump defended the funding freeze, specifically calling out the $45 million allocated for diversity scholarships for Burmese students.

“We also blocked $45 million for diversity scholarships in Burma. Forty-five—that’s a lot of money for diversity scholarships in Burma. You can imagine where that money went,” Trump said. “These were the types of payments and many others. I could stand here all day and tell you about things that we found, and we have to find them quickly because we want the money to flow to proper places.”

Name threatens its demise?

Some note that in addition to the freeze, the name of the program may also leave it in a difficult position, with some worrying that the mention of diversity in its title could impact a substantive review of its impact.

The source with direct knowledge of the initiative for Burmese students told VOA that the program was swiftly terminated when the Trump administration began reducing foreign aid, and that its name “Diversity and Inclusion” likely played a major role in its elimination.

“This program was one of the first to be cut as soon as the administration began making budget reductions in this area,” the source said.

While all USAID-funded programs have been temporarily frozen, DISP appears to have been specifically blocked without any review, the source noted.

“USAID officials have not been able to explain why this program was halted so suddenly.”

VOA reached out to the State Department to verify whether the program was permanently blocked or still under review and whether its name played a role in its swift termination. However, as of the time of publication, VOA had not received a response from the State Department.

The source also voiced concern the administration may not understand that the program has no connection to Myanmar’s military junta and was created solely to support young people who lost their education due to military oppression.

Lifeline for ethnic and religious minorities

The Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Program was set up to reflect Burma’s ethnic and religious diversity, giving equal opportunities to students from all backgrounds who have historically faced discrimination under the Burman-dominated and military-controlled education policies. Burman is the name of the main ethnic group in Myanmar.

Many recipients of the scholarship program belong to ethnic minority groups such as the Karen, Kachin, Shan, Chin, and Rohingya, who have historically faced systemic discrimination in Burma’s education system.  
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Mozambique urges refugees in Malawi to return home

Posted on by SeeAF

BLANTYRE, MALAWI — Mozambican authorities have assured thousands of refugees who fled to Malawi following the recent post-election unrest that peace has been restored in their country and that they are welcome to return home.

Officials from Mozambique’s Institute of Disaster Management Affairs made the comment Friday during a visit to the Nyamithuthu refugee camp in Nsanje district, which hosts asylum seekers from Mozambique. 

Luisa Celma Meque, the head of the Institute of Disaster Management Affairs in Mozambique, thanked the Malawi government for taking care of asylum-seekers from her country.    

“On behalf of our President Daniel Francisco Chapo, we are sending our message of thanks from the government of Mozambique, and we recognize all the effort of the government of Malawi,” said Meque. “The second message is for our brothers here. We are doing all efforts necessary for them to return home as soon as possible”  

Thousands of Mozambicans have fled to Malawi to escape violence triggered by the disputed October presidential election. 

Hilda Katema Kausiwa, the senior administrative and operations manager for the Department of Refugees in Malawi, said the screening and registration of refugees continues. 

“Today, as the Department of Refugees, we have registered a total of 3,640 households, representing 7,456 people,” said Kausiwa. “As of yesterday, we had finished registration in Mwanza, Neno as well as Mulanje [districts] which were additional sites that we had not gone to screen and register together with immigration [officers].”   

Kausiwa said her department has received no new asylum-seekers from Mozambique so far.

Meque of the Institute of Disaster Management Affairs in Mozambique said peace has returned to the country.  

Malawian authorities said they are struggling to provide for refugees because the situation comes at a time when more than a quarter of Malawi’s 20 million people face food shortages due to an El Nino-induced drought.   

However, during the visit, the Mozambican delegation donated food to the refugees. 

Kausiwa of the Department of Refugees in Malawi, appreciated the donation.  

“And in the package, there is some rice, maize flour, salt and some beans,” said Kausiwa. “These are critical foods that can be provided to the community noting that food has been a challenge since these people started coming.” 

But Mozambican traditional leader Reymond Commando of the Mulili area said the refugees would only return if there was concrete proof of their safety. 

He said they fled to Malawi to escape being killed and chased from their homes “like animals.”    

Plataforma Decide, a monitoring group in Mozambique, said in December that more than 200 people have been killed since post-election protests started in October. 
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