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Dangerously high heat builds in California, south central US
sacramento, california — Swaths of California sweltered Tuesday and things were only expected to get worse during the Fourth of July holiday week for parts of the United States with nearly 90 million people under heat alerts.
The torrid conditions were being caused by a ridge of high pressure just off the West Coast and a separate ridge that spawned heat warnings and advisories from Kansas and Missouri to the Gulf Coast states, according to the National Weather Service.
California’s capital, Sacramento, was under an excessive heat warning expected to last until Sunday night, with temperatures forecasted to reach between 40.5-46 Celsius (105-115 Farenheit).
John Mendoza, 35, called it a “firehose of heat” as he walked around the Capitol on Tuesday morning with an iced coffee in his hand. By 9 a.m., he had already been in a pool once — and planned to go back later in the day.
“I felt like I needed to be submerged in water,” he said.
Darlene Crumedy of Fairfield, about an hour’s drive from Sacramento, said she doesn’t use air conditioning because it’s too expensive.
“I’m good, I have a hundred fans,” she said, adding she tries to stay inside and drink cold water.
An analysis by The Associated Press found that heat killed more than 2,300 people in the U.S. last year, setting a record. That figure is likely a major undercount, dozens of experts told AP reporters.
Dr. Arthur Jey, an emergency services physician with Sutter Health in Sacramento, told reporters that getting out of the heat is important, along with wearing a hat and loose clothes, hydration and watching out for signs of heat stroke.
“With heat stroke, it looks like a stroke,” Jey said, describing symptoms that may include acting unusual, significant headaches, blurry vision, profuse sweating and then no sweating.
“And that’s a really big deal,” Jey said. “So we want to prevent them getting even close to heat stroke.”
California’s heat was expected to spread from north to south over the week, with the worst of it focused on interior areas including the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys and the southern deserts. But warnings extended out to just short of the coast.
The heat arrived with gusty, dry winds in the northern part of the state, where the utility Pacific Gas & Electric implemented public safety power shutoffs in parts of 10 counties to prevent wildfires from being ignited by downed or damaged electrical wires.
PG&E said about 12,000 customers were told their power could be cut and given information about centers where they could obtain ice, water, snacks, Wi-Fi and other necessities.
California has had a spate of spring and early summer wildfires feeding on abundant grasses spawned by back-to-back wet winters. The largest current blaze, dubbed the Basin Fire, was 17% contained Tuesday after charring more than 54 square kilometers of the Sierra National Forest in eastern Fresno County.
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Watchdog: Apple Daily trial typifies declining press freedom in Hong Kong
washington — In the four years since Hong Kong enacted its national security law, the country’s press freedom record is in free fall, according to media advocates.
More than 900 journalists have lost their jobs, several media outlets have closed or moved overseas, and some journalists, including pro-democracy Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai, are in prison.
“The Chinese and Hong Kong government’s forced closure of Apple Daily and prosecutions of its owner and editors are very chilling, and they exemplify the city’s sharp decline in press and other freedoms,” said Maya Wang, the interim China director of Human Rights Watch, also known as HRW.
Once a mainstay of press freedom, Hong Kong’s media community has faced numerous setbacks since passage of the 2020 Beijing-backed legislation that cracks down on independent media. The most egregious example is the trial against Lai, which has lasted more than 90 days with the court currently adjourned until July 24.
Lai, who denies charges against him filed under the national security law, has been in custody since December 2020. He and six former staff at Apple Daily — the media outlet he founded — were first arrested in the August of that year.
Apple Daily was shuttered that same year, after authorities froze its assets.
Prosecutors have used more than 150 videos, op-eds and other articles from Apple Daily in their case against Lai. The publisher faces life in prison if convicted.
But rights organizations and international lawyers say the claims against the elderly publisher and his media outlet are “baseless” and that charges should be dropped.
Hong Kong’s security bureau did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment. Authorities have previously disputed accusations that the trial of Lai is unfair.
The trial of the other former Apple Daily executives has been postponed for more than two years, waiting for Lai’s case to conclude, according to Reporters Without Borders, also known as RSF.
RSF and other rights organizations including HRW and Freedom House have called for the immediate release of those in custody.
Calling the prosecutions “baseless,” Wang of HRW told VOA via email that the cases “should also remind the world what Hong Kong has become: a place where people can get life in prison for criticizing the government.”
Wang added that Lai, who is 76, might be suffering from ill health, which adds to the urgency of his release.
Aleksandra Bielakowska, RSF’s Pacific Asia Bureau advocacy officer, told VOA it is unclear what will happen in the coming months. But, she said, “I estimate that the sentencing will be prolonged until the start of fall.”
Bielakowska described Lai’s case as a “sham trial” to prove what Hong Kong can do to silence the press wanting to talk about the issues that are not aligned with China.
She noted that earlier in the year, the United Nations raised concerns about the treatment of a witness called to give testimony.
In a letter to Chinese authorities, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture said she was “deeply concerned that evidence that is expected to be presented against Jimmy Lai imminently may have been obtained as a result of torture or other unlawful treatment,” and called for an investigation into the allegations of mistreatment and torture.
Bielakowska has been observing Lai’s trial. But when she tried to travel to Hong Kong in April for a hearing, her entry was blocked. Bielakowska says she was detained for six hours at the airport, searched, and questioned before being deported.
Since the national security law’s enactment, several media outlets have closed or moved some parts of their operations outside of Hong Kong, including VOA’s sister network Radio Free Asia and The Wall Street Journal. RSF says that the environment for media has prompted many journalists to leave Hong Kong.
There is an atmosphere of fear for the journalists working on the ground, said Bielakowska, adding that Hong Kong officials have not given a lot of hope for press freedom, and that independent reporting is already deteriorating significantly in China.
Alongside the Apple Daily case, the law has been used to arrest hundreds of pro-democracy activists.
Beijing has dismissed concerns that the security law is affecting press freedom, saying the legislation is needed to maintain stability.
Yaqiu Wang, research director for China and Hong Kong at Freedom House, said her organization is advocating for the U.S. and other governments to impose sanctions against Hong Kong officials involved in the prosecution of Lai and others charged under the national security law.
In December, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China in a statement also said the U.S. “should sanction the judges and prosecutors involved in this case.”
Hong Kong ranks 135 out of 180 on the RSF World Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best media environment. In 2019, the year before the national security came in, Hong Kong ranked 73.
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Satellite imagery shows China expanding spy bases in Cuba
Washington — New satellite images of Cuba show signs the country is installing improved intelligence capabilities at four military bases with suspected links to China, potentially providing Beijing with a network of facilities that could be used to spy on the United States.
The imagery, presented in a report Tuesday by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, was taken in March and April. It indicated new or recent construction at three sites near the capital, Havana, as well as work on a previously unreported site not far from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
“Without access to classified materials, pinpointing the specific targets of these assets is nearly impossible,” the report said. “Nonetheless, the growth of space-monitoring equipment at sites like Bejucal and Calabazar is notable given that Cuba lacks its own satellites or space program.”
Bejucal is the largest of the four sites, according to CSIS analysts and first came to prominence during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the base was used to store nuclear weapons for the Soviet Union.
More recently, it has gained prominence as a major signals intelligence monitoring station, suspected to be tracking electronic communications for China.
The new satellite pictures show evidence that Bejucal has seen expansive updates, including a new electronic antenna enclosure.
Two other sites near Havana — Wajay and Calabazar — have seen growth as well, with CSIS analysts citing evidence of an expanding and evolving mission, including the installation of antennae, radar dishes and other equipment that could help those using it to monitor satellites.
The final site, El Salao, appears to be still under construction. But its location, not far from the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay near the city of Santiago de Cuba, and the structures themselves, could be cause for concern for the U.S.
The imagery collected by CSIS shows progress on what appears to be an antenna array with a diameter of 130 to 200 meters (425 to 655 feet). Similar arrays, according to the analysts, have shown the ability to track signals up to 15,000 kilometers (9,300 miles).
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the CSIS report. But it follows a report last year by The Wall Street Journal that China was paying Cuba several billion dollars to build a spy facility.
U.S. officials later said that China had upgraded its intelligence facilities in Cuba in 2019 but that U.S. pushback had prevented Beijing from achieving its goals.
“We’re confident that we can continue to meet our security commitments,” said Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder while briefing reporters Tuesday.
“We know that the PRC [People’s Republic of China] is going to continue to try to enhance its presence in Cuba, and we will continue to keep working to disrupt that,” he said in response to a question from VOA. “We’re continuing to monitor this closely, taking steps to counter it.”
China on Tuesday rejected the findings of the CSIS report, with the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Washington calling them “nothing but slander.”
“The U.S. side has repeatedly hyped-up China’s establishment of spy bases or conducting surveillance activities in Cuba,” Liu Pengyu told VOA in an email.
“The U.S. should immediately stop its malicious smearing of China,” Liu said, adding, “The U.S. is no doubt the leading power in terms of eavesdropping and does not even spare its Allies [sic].”
Cuba also pushed back against the CSIS report, singling out a write-up in The Wall Street Journal.
“Without citing a verifiable source or showing evidence, it seeks to scare the public with legends about Chinese military bases that do not exist and no one has seen,” according to a post by Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio on the X social media platform.
The CSIS report says monitoring stations in Cuba could help China to acquire needed capabilities and insights as it tries to militarily surpass the United States.
“Collecting data on activities like military exercises, missile tests, rocket launches, and submarine maneuvers would allow China to develop a more sophisticated picture of U.S. military practices,” the report said.
“Cuban facilities would also provide the ability to monitor radio traffic and potentially intercept data delivered by U.S. satellites as they pass over highly sensitive military sites across the southern United States,” the report said.
Such monitoring stations could also help China gain access to what the report describes as a “treasure trove of data” from commercial communications transiting the southeastern U.S.
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Refugee flight from Sudan surging as war rages, funds dry up
Geneva — The U.N. refugee agency is expanding a humanitarian appeal for Sudan, as increasing numbers of people flee the country’s war and widespread hunger in search of safety in neighboring countries.
The UNHCR reports more money is needed to aid and protect the swelling population of Sudanese refugees, and it is revising its appeal to $1.5 billion, up from $1.4 billion it requested in January. The appeal will help 3.3 million refugees and the local communities hosting them in neighboring countries through the end of the year.
Ewan Watson, UNHCR head of global communications, has just returned from visits to Sudan’s White Nile State and a to the Renk and JamJin refugee camp in South Sudan’s Unity State.
He described the situation there as “incredibly difficult, confusing, dangerous, and an appalling tragedy for civilians both still in Sudan and those who have had to leave the country due to the violence.”
Briefing journalists Tuesday in Geneva, Watson said “It is one of the most neglected crises globally and for us, it is the most pressing displacement crisis in the world right now.”
Since the conflict began in mid-April 2023, he noted that 10 million people have fled their homes in Sudan, “with many displaced multiple times.”
Of these, the UNHCR reports nearly 8 million are displaced inside Sudan, while nearly 2 million people have gone to neighboring countries.
Money from the January appeal has been used to assist Sudanese refugees who fled to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.
The UNHCR’s revised appeal has been expanded to include two new countries, Libya and Uganda. Since last year’s power struggle between rival generals from the Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Response Forces triggered this catastrophic conflict, the UNHCR has registered 20,000 new arrivals in Libya from Sudan, mainly fleeing Darfur.
“We understand that thousands more have arrived in Libya that are not registered and are in the East of the country. With more refugees continuing to arrive since the escalation of fighting in the Darfur region, local services available across the country are really overstretched,” Watson said.
“Refugee families are being forced to sleep in the open as there is a lack of shelter,” he said. “Medical facilities also cannot keep up with growing needs and this is putting children, in particular, at risk of malnutrition.”
He observed that Uganda, which already was the largest refugee hosting country in Africa, is fast becoming home to a burgeoning Sudanese refugee population.
Since the outbreak of the war, he said more than 39,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to Sudan, “with 70 percent fleeing just this year. This is three times more than was initially expected or predicted.”
“Most of them are arriving from Khartoum and have university level education and are looking to rebuild their lives,” he said, noting that most are being hosted and receiving humanitarian aid, including food, shelter, and health care in the Kiryandongo refugee settlement in the west of the country.
“As more people arrive, these services continue to be stretched, while resources to expand assistance are lacking,” he said, adding that only 19 percent of the money required to run its humanitarian operations has been received. “This is abysmally insufficient to cover the most basic needs for people forced to flee. The cost of inaction is having grave consequences for refugees.”
The UNHCR official said heavy rains expected in some of the hosting countries risk complicating the delivery of humanitarian aid, particularly in border areas. He appealed to international donors to provide the funds needed to help strengthen government-led efforts to deliver critical assistance to millions of vulnerable people.
Otherwise, he warned more and more refugees will be forced to seek help “further afield in countries such as Libya, which are extremely difficult for refugees.”
Last week, the United Nations published alarming new data showing that the rapid deterioration in food security in Sudan has left 755,000 people “in catastrophic conditions with a risk of famine in 14 areas.”
Reacting to this latest food assessment by the Integrated Phase Classification, IPC, heads of three leading U.N. agencies warned that “Sudan is facing a devastating hunger catastrophe on a scale not seen since the Darfur crisis in the early 2000s.”
In its latest update of fighting between the SAF and RSF in the southern town of Sinja the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, reports that more than 60,000 people have fled Sinja for safety, most moving east toward the state of Gedaref.
“The fighting continues, and people are on the move as we speak so the situation is very volatile and these numbers could increase in the coming days,” Vanessa Huguenin, OCHA spokesperson told journalists in Geneva on Tuesday.
“We and our humanitarian partners are present in Gedaref and are preparing for the arrival of people that have been displaced by the clashes, with food and nutrition supplies … We have a window of opportunity to act but time is running out and we need more funding and access,” she said.
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Exiled Hong Kong activists feel strain after bounty imposed on them
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Two exiled Hong Kong activists say bounties imposed on them last year are causing fear and anxiety as they conduct their advocacy work from U.S. soil amid concerns for their safety.
Anna Kwok expected to face retaliation from the Hong Kong government when she became the executive director of the Washington-based advocacy organization Hong Kong Democracy Council in November 2022. Hong Kong authorities imposed a bounty on her and seven others on July 3, 2023.
Frances Hui, who is the policy and advocacy coordinator for the U.S.-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, was one of an additional five who had bounties imposed on them in December.
The 13 are accused of violating a controversial national security law that went into effect in the former British colony in July 2020.
Despite being mentally prepared, Hui and Kwok said they felt shocked when the Hong Kong government issued arrest warrants and bounties worth $127,635 for them and the other overseas Hong Kong activists last year. Hui said the bounty felt like “a death certificate” as it confirmed she would not be able to set foot in Hong Kong again.
“After learning about the bounty imposed against me, I suddenly felt like everything was out of my control because I could no longer get in touch with my family and close people in Hong Kong,” she said, adding that the event pushed her life onto a completely different path.
“I’m officially a wanted fugitive, and whoever in Hong Kong is associated with me will get into trouble,” Hui told VOA by phone.
While Hui described the experience as “jarring and shocking,” Kwok said she didn’t realize how the bounties could affect her until her bank account in Hong Kong was frozen.
“At first, I was surprised for only 10 seconds and immediately went into work mode, thinking about how to use this incident to advance our advocacy agenda in media interviews,” said Kwok.
“When I checked my Hong Kong bank account at 11 p.m. on July 3, 2023, I noticed my asserts were frozen and I suddenly realized the real-life implications of the bounty on my head,” Kwok told VOA by phone.
These activists “betrayed their country, betrayed Hong Kong, disregarded the interests of Hong Kong people, and continue to endanger national security even when abroad,” the chief superintendent of Hong Kong’s National Security Department, Li Kwai-wah, said at a December 14 press conference.
Eric Lai, a research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Asian Law in the United States, said the Hong Kong government hopes to create a chilling effect that will further disconnect people in Hong Kong from overseas activists by issuing arrest warrants and bounties.
“It’s a silencing tactic to both people around the bounty holders and the bounty holders themselves,” he told VOA by phone, adding that it is part of the Hong Kong government’s efforts to surveil, harass and intimidate political dissidents in exile.
In addition to imposing bounties on more than a dozen activists, Hong Kong authorities canceled the passports of overseas activists last month. In the U.K., three men were charged in May with spying on members of the Hong Kong diaspora community on behalf of the territory’s intelligence service.
Threat to mental health, personal safety
Apart from targeting overseas activists, Hong Kong authorities have interrogated family members of the activists, including Hui’s mother and Kwok’s brothers and parents.
Hui said the interrogations of her family members made her realize that her activism abroad could affect those who are still in Hong Kong. She said that is one way that Hong Kong authorities have limited her freedom.
“It’s a very lonely experience to know that whatever I do could be connected to people who are associated with me; but I also know that if I stop my activism now, that’s exactly what the Chinese Communist Party would want, to intimidate and silence me,” she said.
In addition to the sense of loneliness, Hui said the bounty has increased her fear of threats to her safety.
“I have become extra cautious about talking to people, even those in the Hong Kong diaspora community, and my heightened sensitivity toward security issues has also contributed to my increased level of anxiety,” she said, adding that she is trying hard not to let fear dictate her advocacy work.
As for Kwok, the fear for her safety became real when she began to receive death threats shortly before leaders convened for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, held in November in San Francisco. At the time, she was planning to attend protest rallies against Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I started receiving death threats and threats of raping me in my inbox, and those accounts are not afraid of using brutal language or insinuating physical harm against me,” she told VOA. She said the messages would appear in her inbox in a coordinated fashion.
While she was shocked about the explicitness of those threats, she tried to take steps to rein in her fear, including maintaining regular contact with close friends, playing with her cats or diving into the world of fiction.
These steps “help to assure me that things are okay and I’m doing something impactful, which is an important realization to me,” Kwok said.
Despite their efforts to overcome the fear created by the bounties, Hui and Kwok say the Hong Kong government’s efforts to launch transnational repression are a threat to the entire diaspora community.
“I think my personal experience shows that there are still many gaps in implementing protection mechanisms against transnational repression in many countries,” Kwok said, adding that the moves initiated by Hong Kong authorities are damaging trust within the diaspora community.
While Hong Kong authorities try to isolate some overseas activists, Hui said she will continue to concentrate her advocacy efforts on speaking up for activists who have been imprisoned in Hong Kong.
“There is a sense of mission for me, and I hope I can continue to advocate for those who can’t,” she said.
In response to criticisms made by the activists, the Hong Kong government said the extraterritorial effect of the national security law is fully in line with the principles of international law and common practices adopted by several countries.
“Absconders should not think they can evade criminal liability by absconding from Hong Kong, [because] ultimately, they will be held accountable for their acts constituting serious offences endangering national security and be sanctioned by law,” a Hong Kong government spokesperson told VOA in a written response.
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Chad, Cameroon say Boko Haram in villages after strikes kill 70 terrorists
YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — The Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad basin says several hundred fighters from jihadist groups Boko Karam and Islamic State West Africa Province have fled to Chad and Cameroon after the task force attacked camps and killed more than 70 terrorists Sunday.
The ongoing operation, dubbed Lake Sanity 2, aims to obliterate all terrorist camps around Lake Chad, the task force said.
In a video circulated on social media and broadcast on Chadian state TV, scores of villagers shouted that at least two dozen relatives died in attacks in villages along Cameroon’s border with Nigeria, and that 12 more people were injured.
The four-nation task force, created to fight terrorism in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, said the deceased seen in the video are some of the more than 70 Boko Haram and Islamic State terrorists “neutralized” in Sunday’s attacks.
The joint task force also said many jihadists surrendered in the air and ground operations but did not give a precise number. The troops said they captured many fighters and recovered large consignments of weapons.
None of its ground troops suffered injuries, the task force said.
The task force’s operations are targeting terrorist hideouts in border villages, including Mokolo and Waza in Cameroon. Moubi, Menchika and Madagali in Nigeria are also part of the operation.
A release from task force spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Abubakar Abdullahi said the goal is to wipe out terrorist camps in villages on the borders of Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, as well as the portion of the Lake Chad basin shared by the three neighbors.
Midjiyawa Bakari, the governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, asked civilians to watch for fleeing terrorists because, he said, they are infiltrating neighboring towns and villages. He asked local militias to help in the effort and for people in border towns and villages to report to government troops any strangers or groups of people entering the country.
Bakari, who spoke on Cameroonian state TV on Tuesday, said the porous nature of Cameroon’s border with Chad and Nigeria makes it difficult for troops to single handedly stop jihadists without the assistance of civilians.
Chad’s government said it also has deployed what it says are enough troops to stop terrorists from hiding in its territory. Chad said that within the past two days, its troops had killed or arrested many militants but provided no details.
Boko Haram began launching attacks in Nigeria in 2009. In 2013, Cameroon, Niger and Chad reported that the terror group had launched attacks in their territories. The task force, which was created in 2014 to fight the militants, says it has about 11,000 troops and rescue workers.
The United Nations says the conflict has killed more than 40,000 people, mainly in Nigeria, and forced 3 million to flee their homes.
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Britain set for general election, as polls indicate opposition landslide
London — Britons look set to elect a new government by landslide as the country prepares to head to the polls on Thursday July 4. The vote comes amid weak economic growth and struggling public services, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza among the major foreign policy challenges lying ahead for the next administration.
The current opposition Labour Party under Keir Starmer is polling around 20% ahead of the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives, who have been in power for the past 14 years, a period that witnessed Britain’s bumpy exit from the European Union and a much-criticized response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is clearly widespread and very deep dissatisfaction with the Conservatives,” said Ursula Hackett, a political expert at Royal Holloway, University of London. “The question there is the cost of living, but I also think it’s a sense of scandal and sleaze,” she told the Associated Press.
While Labour is in a buoyant mood ahead of the election, analysts caution that voter dissatisfaction appears to extend across the entire political spectrum — with little evidence of positive enthusiasm for the main opposition or its leader, Starmer.
Voter dissatisfaction
The town of Dartford, east of London, is known as a “bellwether” constituency. Its voters have picked a candidate from the winning party of every general election since 1964, making it a useful gauge of national political feeling.
Eighteen-year-old Yasmine Nicholls, who volunteers at a local food bank, is preparing to vote for the first time — but is already disillusioned.
“The people of England don’t actually get to decide on what is going to happen in the country. … We don’t really get to have a say in a lot of things that happen, we just have to follow,” she said.
Retired store worker Linda Skinner, who is 64, echoed that sentiment. “Governments are no longer for the people. To be honest, I haven’t voted for a long time. Our votes don’t count. The same people basically get in each time, Labour, Conservative, they are all the same,” she told AP.
For some, that lack of trust has been driven by recent political scandals.
“Across the board. I don’t trust any of them. Especially when our (former) Prime Minister Boris Johnson lied. He lied straight across the board. He went to a party when everybody was in lockdown, and then from that point onwards, that’s it, that was enough for me,” said pensioner Hilmi Hilmi.
Scandal
Johnson — who resigned last year following a series of scandals, including the breaking of COVID-19 lockdown rules — is one of five different Conservative prime ministers over the past eight turbulent years.
Analysts say the current Prime Minister Sunak is struggling to shake off that image amid new investigations by Britain’s Gambling Commission into Conservative members placing bets on the timing of the upcoming election.
Weak economy
The opposition Labour Party under Starmer is well ahead in most polls. But he would inherit a struggling economy, noted Anand Menon, a professor of international politics at Kings College London.
“We have crumbling public services after, in some cases, years of underinvestment. We’ve got very, very low median wage growth over the last 10 to 15 years. So we’ve got a public that is increasingly worried about the state of the economy.
“At the same time, we have very little in the way of money to address these problems. The tax burden is the highest it’s been since the end of the Second World War. Debt repayments are high, and crucially, growth is very, very low. One of the first big questions to face a Starmer government is going to be, how are you going to raise the money to fix our crumbling public services?” Menon told VOA.
Global challenges
The next government will also face a daunting list of global challenges. There is uncertainty over future Western military aid for Ukraine, as Kyiv battles to regain lost ground from invading Russian forces.
Amid huge loss of life in Gaza, members of the Labour Party are demanding that Starmer be more critical of the Israeli government’s actions. Starmer has said he wants to recognize a Palestinian state as part of a wider peace process.
China continues to pose an economic and geopolitical challenge to the West. But Britain’s allies shouldn’t expect a dramatic change of foreign policy, said analyst Menon.
“One of the striking things about British politics at the moment is that over the two big crises of our time, Gaza and Ukraine, there’s very little, if any, difference between the positions adopted by the big parties. So, I don’t think there’ll be much of a change,” Menon said.
Small parties
Britain’s smaller parties could play a big role in deciding the election outcome and the scale of Labour’s expected victory. The center-left Liberal Democrats have a chance of pushing the Conservatives into third place.
The anti-immigration, pro-Brexit Reform party could also peel off right-leaning Conservative voters. Reform leader Nigel Farage was widely criticized by other parties after saying the West provoked Russia into invading Ukraine, while party activists were recently filmed undercover using racist insults, drawing condemnation from across the political spectrum.
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At Nairobi morgue, families of protesters collect their loved ones
Nairobi, Kenya — As protests resumed in Kenya, some families were visiting morgues Monday to collect the bodies of relatives who died during last week’s demonstrations against proposed tax increases.
Hussein Khaled, CEO of Vocal Africa, an organization of community activists, was at Nairobi’s City Mortuary assisting mourners and trying to ensure that autopsies were performed and causes of death recorded.
“We are here to support the families, particularly those who were shot and killed by police officers. We make sure we have the necessary documentation that will help us in seeking justice,” Khaled said.
Reports of the death toll vary. While President William Ruto said on Sunday that 19 people have been killed, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported that 24 people have died since the protests began two weeks ago.
Kennedy Mwangi Njeru, 20, was among the fatalities. His parents, Joseph Mwangi Njeru and Mary Muthoni, came to the morgue to collect their son’s body. His father said Kennedy, who he described as his firstborn and best friend, was shot in the head and the back.
“I feel very bad,” his mother said. “My son is gone, and I will never see him again.”
Kennedy Mwangi Njeru’s aunt, who gave her name only as Esther, accompanied her relatives. She said, “We have a lot of stress in our minds. … We were ready to bury [him] on Thursday this week, but we don’t have money even to pay the mortuary to travel from here to Kirinyaga.”
Phoebe Akumu Maina, a widow who lost her 17-year-old son, Kevin Odhiambo Maina, also faced a financial burden.
“I don’t have money, I have nothing. I am only just a mother. … I don’t have anything … to carry the body up to the cemetery,” she said.
Activist Hanifa Adan and others have set up an account through M-Changa, a mobile contribution platform, to help offset some of the protesters’ medical and funeral expenses.
“We had a target of 10 million [Kenyan shillings], but it actually surpassed. We collected 24 million in a day, in just like 10 hours,” Adan said.
She explained that the money, equivalent to about $193,000, will help pay hospital bills and for burial costs.
As some protesters demanded his resignation, Ruto promised a thorough investigation into the deaths. He has withdrawn the controversial tax bill and proposed a multi-sectoral forum to engage youth and discuss issues related to debt, taxation, unemployment and corruption.
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International students see opportunity at Colorado State University
The Western U.S. state of Colorado is a popular destination for international students. Colorado State University in Fort Collins is one of the state’s largest. Svitlana Prystynska takes a look at what draws so many students from other countries. Videographer: Volodymyr Petruniv
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New immigrants change southern Florida ambience
Just south of the Florida mainland lies a string of islands called the Florida Keys. The southernmost tip is Key West. Its location makes it a natural first stop — and eventual home — for migrants, especially those fleeing Haiti and Cuba. VOA’s Senior Washington Correspondent Carolyn Presutti takes a look at who’s settling there and how it’s changing the look and feel of Key West. VOA footage and video editing by Mary Cieslak.
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‘Can’t go back’: Myanmar conscription exiles struggle in Thailand
Chiang Mai, Thailand — When Myanmar’s junta announced a conscription law to help crush a popular pro-democracy uprising, Khaing knew there was only one way to escape its clutches and she began planning her escape.
Weeks later the former teacher was hidden in a smuggler’s van heading into Thailand with little more than some clothes, cash and an ID card, not knowing when she would be able to return.
Now scraping a living in Bangkok without papers, Khaing worries constantly about a tap on the shoulder by Thai police and deportation back to the junta.
She is one of tens of thousands of young people rights groups estimate have fled Myanmar since the military introduced conscription in February to shore up its depleted ranks.
The junta is battling widespread armed opposition to its 2021 coup and its soldiers are accused of bloody rampages and using air and artillery strikes to punish civilian communities.
It says it wants to enlist 5,000 new people, each month, aged between 18-35, but details on how they will be chosen, and where and how they will serve are vague.
Media reports of young men being dragged off the streets and into the army, which the military denies,have further added to the panic.
“The conscription law means we have to kill each other,” said Wai Yan, 26, from eastern Karen state, who in May crossed into Thailand.
“We are not fighting a war against foreign enemies,” he said from the Bangkok restaurant where he works without documents.
“We are fighting each other.”
Smuggled for $220
Shortly after enacting the law, the junta tightened requirements for people crossing Myanmar’s land borders, and temporarily halted issuing foreign work permits for young men.
Yangon-based film critic Ngwe Yan Thun, a pseudonym, said he had “no choice” but to leave illegally.
Through friends he contacted a “broker” who said he could be smuggled over the border into Thailand for around $220.
Ngwe Yan Thun sold off all of his belongings, arranged for friends to look after his dog and bought an air ticket to Tachileik on the Thai border.
At the airport, he had to pay “tea money” to officials at the airport who were suspicious of why he was traveling to the remote provincial town.
He was dropped at a safehouse near the border where around 30 others were waiting to be taken into Thailand.
Then, at short notice, he was crammed into a car with 11 others and they set off.
“I didn’t feel like a human being, I felt like I was black market goods,” Ngwe Yan Thun said from Thailand’s Chiang Mai.
‘Am I in Myanmar?’
Thailand has long been home to a sizeable Myanmar community, with a bustling market in Bangkok and towns along the border.
The conflict has made it difficult to conduct surveys or verify how many young people had fled abroad to escape conscription, said an official from the International Labour Organization.
But the organization said it had received estimates from ground sources that suggested “hundreds of thousands” had fled the law.
Wai Yan said he was surprised at how many people from Myanmar were in Thailand.
“I even joke with my friends ‘Am I still in Myanmar?'”
‘Cried every day’
After arriving in Bangkok, Khaing was unable to contact her parents as fighting around her home village cut internet and mobile networks.
“I was worried about getting caught by the Thai police. So, I didn’t dare to go outside when I arrived,” she told AFP.
“I cried every day in my first month here.”
She found part-time work at a friend’s shop and returns in the evenings to her sparse room where she sells medicine and beauty products on TikTok.
A large teddy bear gifted to her by a friend who knew she was feeling lonely takes up much of the bed.
The first batch of conscripts finished their training and would soon be sent to their posts, state media reported last week, as fighting rages in the west and north of the country.
Ngwe Yan Thun is grateful he is far away, but is kept up at night wondering what to do next.
“I think about what I should do if I don’t get a job and official documents to stay,” he said.
“I can’t go back to Myanmar. I feel overwhelmed by thoughts and worries all the time.”
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French left, Macron scramble to block far-right win
PARIS — Candidates in France on Tuesday faced a deadline to register for the run-off round of a high-stakes parliamentary election, as President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist camp and a left-wing alliance scrambled to prevent the far right from taking power.
On Sunday, French people go to polls for the decisive final round of the snap election Macron called after his camp received a drubbing in European elections last month.
His gamble appears to have backfired, with the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen scoring a victory in the first round of voting last Sunday.
Macron’s centrists trailed in third place behind the left-wing New Popular Front alliance.
Faced with the prospect of the far right taking power in France for the first time since the country’s occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II, Macron’s camp has begun cooperating with the New Popular Front alliance which includes the hard-left France Unbowed party.
The rivals are hoping that tactical voting will prevent the RN winning the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.
Macron has called for a “broad” democratic coalition against the far right, with the political crisis overshadowing France’s preparations for the Olympic Games this summer.
Speaking to broadcaster TF1 on Monday evening, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal once again urged voters not to give the far-right an absolute majority.
“That would be catastrophic for the French,” he said, adding that the far-right would fuel divisions in society.
Third-place candidates who qualified for the second round have been urged to drop out to present a united front against the far right.
The deadline to decide whether to stand down is 6 pm Tuesday. According to a provisional count by AFP, more than 150 left-wing or centrist candidates have already dropped out.
“Only a strong republican front, uniting the left, center and conservatives, can keep the far right at bay and prevent France from tipping over,” daily newspaper Le Monde said in an editorial.
Le Pen has urged voters to give the RN an absolute majority, which would see Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old RN chief with no governing experience, become prime minister.
But most projections show the RN falling short of an absolute majority — although the final outcome remains far from certain.
The RN garnered 33 percent of the vote last Sunday, compared to 28 percent for the New Popular Front alliance and just over 20 percent for Macron’s camp.
Speaking on television on Monday night, Bardella derided efforts by Macron’s camp and the left-wing coalition to put up a united front, suggesting that the “dishonorable” alliance had been formed out of desperation.
He accused the French president of coming “to the rescue of a violent extreme-left movement” he himself had denounced just days ago.
Macron convened a cabinet meeting Monday to decide a further course of action.
“Let’s not be mistaken. It’s the far right that’s on its way to the highest office, no one else,” he said at the meeting, according to one participant.
The emotion was palpable, with several ministers dropping out of the race.
“We’ve known happier meetings,” one minister told Le Monde.
Analysts say the most likely outcome of the snap election is a hung parliament that could lead to months of political paralysis and chaos.
With a total of 76 candidates elected in the first round, the final composition of the 577-seat National Assembly will be clear only after the second round.
The second round will see a three-way or two-way run-off in the remainder of the seats to be decided, although a tiny number of four-way run-offs are also possible.
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Australian lawmaker defiant over Palestinian statehood suspension
SYDNEY — Australia’s Labor government is facing a backlash from the Muslim community over its suspension of an Afghan-born lawmaker.
Senator Fatima Payman, an Australian Muslim, says she has been exiled after voting against party lines on issues around Palestinian statehood.
Australia advocates a two-state solution in which Israel and a future Palestinian state coexist within internationally recognized borders. Payman was suspended after voting against her own party to recognize Palestine as a state in federal Parliament.
The Kabul-born lawmaker told reporters that Australia “cannot believe in two state solutions and only recognize one.”
Payman has promised to defy the government again if the issue is again put to the vote.
The battle between the senator for Western Australia and the governing Labor party revolves around its so-called “solidarity” rule that requires all its lawmakers to vote as a bloc.
Senator Katy Gallagher, Australia’s federal Finance minister, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday that Payman has breached party regulations.
“These are decisions that she has taken knowing quite clearly what the consequences would be and, you know, she has continued to make those decisions,” Gallagher said. “So, I certainly, and I know a lot of my colleagues, would want her to remain with the Labor caucus but she also has to give a commitment that some of the decisions she has taken in the last week would not be repeated.”
There is speculation the suspended senator could quit the Labor Party and stay in parliament as an independent, switch her political allegiance to the Australian Greens or form her own political party.
Reports also suggest she could join a new political organization called The Muslim Vote, which is planning to run candidates on a pro-Palestinian platform in some of the governing Labor party’s safest parliamentary seats.
Under Australia’s voting electoral system, Payman was elected in May 2022 and would serve up to six years in parliament.
The campaign group, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, said in a statement it “stands firmly” with Payman and urged other lawmakers to follow her example.
The Muslim senator was born in Afghanistan and was a child when she arrived as a refugee in Australia with her family.
Her indefinite suspension from the governing party is a further sign that the war in Gaza is causing political and social tensions in Australia.
Community groups have reported an increase in Islamophobic and antisemitic abuse in Australia since Israel’s war in Gaza began almost nine months ago.
Australia has said Israel has the right to defend itself after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants.
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Cambodia sentences green campaigners for ‘plotting’ over activism
Phnom Penh, Cambodia — A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced 10 environmentalists to between six and eight years in jail for plotting to commit crimes in their activism, the latest legal crackdown on the country’s green campaigners.
The campaigners from Mother Nature, one of Cambodia’s few environmental activism groups, denied the charges, which they said were politically motivated.
Am Sam Ath, operations director of rights group LICADHO, told AFP the court sentenced the activists to jail terms ranging from six to eight years.
He said three of them, including Mother Nature co-founder Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, a Spaniard deported from Cambodia in 2015, were sentenced to eight years for plotting against the government and insulting the king.
Seven others were sentenced to six years in prison on unspecified plotting charges.
Six of the defendants were sentenced in absentia, while the four who were present were seized by police outside the court and taken away, according to an AFP journalist.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) last month condemned the trial as an attempt to “muzzle criticism of governmental policies.”
HRW said Mother Nature had campaigned for more than a decade against damaging infrastructure projects and “exposed corruption in the management of Cambodia’s natural resources.”
The charges against the 10 activists related to Mother Nature’s activism between 2012 and 2021.
The group raised issues around the filling-in of lakes in Phnom Penh, illegal logging, and the destruction of natural resources across the country.
The tussle over protecting or exploiting Cambodia’s natural resources has long been a contentious issue in the kingdom, with environmentalists threatened, arrested and even killed in the past decade.
Three of the activists sentenced Tuesday had previously been jailed for organizing a peaceful march protesting the filling-in of a lake in the capital to create land for real estate developments.
From 2001 to 2015, a third of Cambodia’s primary forests, some of the world’s most biodiverse and a key carbon sink, were cleared, and tree cover loss accelerated faster than anywhere else in the world, according to the World Resources Institute.
Much of the cleared land has been granted to businesses in concessions that experts say have driven deforestation and dispossession in the country.
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Alliance sets sights on minerals needed for global shift to green energy
The U.S. government’s representative to the Minerals Security Partnership, an alliance of mostly Western countries that aims to speed the development of energy mineral supply chains, said last month that a Chinese company was using “predatory” tactics to hold down the price of cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Henry Wilkins looks at what this means for Africa.
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