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Germany implements border checks as migration debate stirs election tensions
Germany began implementing checks on all its land borders Monday as the government tries to crack down on irregular migration. As Henry Ridgwell reports, many of Germany’s neighbors have criticized the plan, which they say undermines the core European Union principle of freedom of movement.
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Eswatini activists say park rangers shoot suspected poachers with impunity
Mbabane, Eswatini — Some Eswatini legislators, backed by human rights activists, are calling for an urgent review of the Game Act of 1991, a law they say allows wildlife park rangers to shoot and kill suspected poachers with little or no accountability.
Game park owners have defended these shootings for years as necessary to protect animals. But critics contend that the Game Act instead jeopardizes human life.
Human rights lawyer Thabiso Mavuso of the Law Society of Swaziland, who has represented the families of shooting victims, says the law not only allows game rangers to use lethal force with impunity but also shields them from legal accountability.
“We have seen here in Eswatini the killing, injury and torture of people, some as young as 13 years and some in their 60s, but nothing has been done against the perpetrators … ,” Mavuso said. “This law needs reform. It must be aligned with human rights and general principles of constitutionalism such as accountability and responsibility.”
No one has exact numbers for how many suspected poachers have been killed in Eswatini’s game parks, but the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs estimates dozens are slain each year.
Game ranger Mandla Motsa told VOA that it is rangers who need protection and that the Game Law should not be altered.
“We have lost a lot of rangers – some have been killed and others injured,” Motsa said. “Almost all the time, the poachers shoot at rangers first. There has been a wrong narrative that we value the lives of animals more than that of humans. What people are forgetting is that there are two sides of lives involved in this issue and that is that of the ranger and the poacher. So, amending the Game Act would be to make it seem that our lives as rangers are also not important.”
However, political analyst Mandla Hlatshwayo said the killings in the parks are a consequence of the government’s abuse of power under the guise of environmental protection.
“What’s happening in the country in my view has nothing to do with environmental protection,” Hlatshwayo said. “The killing of so-called poachers in the manner that it’s actually taking place is wrong and must be condemned in the strongest of terms. We are witnessing the cold-blooded execution of suspects under circumstances that are very questionable. This is simple murder that is being condoned by the authorities, mainly because the victims are poor people with no power to fight back.”
Former Senator Ngomayayona Gamedze, whose family has suffered losses at the hands of game rangers, says the act must be amended to prioritize the sanctity of human life.
“Wildlife in Eswatini is now accorded higher status and greater protection than human beings,” Gamedze said. “This must be addressed by our legislators before human lives are further disregarded. Game rangers hold immense power over ordinary Swazis who love hunting, yet are penalized to the extent of death without trial. It is an injustice that the people of Eswatini are treated as less than animals, and a review of the Game Act is needed to prevent further loss of life.”
Government spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo said a motion from senators to amend the Gaming Act was being debated and that a vote was pending.
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US military completes withdrawal from junta-ruled Niger
DAKAR, Senegal — The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Niger is complete, an American official said Monday.
A small number of military personnel assigned to guard the U.S. Embassy remain, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.
Earlier this year, Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement that allowed U.S. troops to operate in the West African country. A few months later, officials from both countries said in a joint statement that U.S. troops would complete their withdrawal by the middle of September.
The U.S. handed over its last military bases in Niger to local authorities last month, but about two dozen American soldiers had remained in Niger, largely for administrative duties related to the withdrawal, Singh said.
Niger’s ouster of American troops following a coup last year has broad ramifications for Washington because it’s forcing troops to abandon critical bases that were used for counterterrorism missions in the Sahel. groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate in the vast region south of the Sahara desert.
One of those groups, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, known as JNIM, is active in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, and is looking to expand into Benin and Togo.
Niger had been seen as one of the last nations in the restive region that Western nations could partner with to beat back growing jihadi insurgencies. The U.S. and France had more than 2,500 military personnel in the region until recently, and together with other European countries had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance and training.
In recent months Niger has pulled away from its Western partners, turning instead to Russia for security. In April, Russian military trainers arrived in Niger to reinforce the country’s air defenses.
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UN diverts $8 million in humanitarian funding to Nigeria flood response
Maiduguri, Nigeria — The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has approved the immediate release of $8 million dollars to support victims in flood ravaged Maiduguri, in Nigeria’s Borno state. Severe flooding there last week killed dozens of people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.
Mohammed Malick Fall, the U.N. resident coordinator, announced the new funding to journalists in Maiduguri while visiting flood victims over the weekend.
The visit was to assess the extent of damage caused by the flooding and to ramp up lifesaving assistance.
Fall announced the allocation of $8 million from the humanitarian fund to support disaster response and management.
“We’re all behind you not only in sympathy but in solidarity. We will not spare any of our resources in this response,” Fall said. “Probably we might not be where we want it to be in terms of resources, but as we speak, we’ll try to refocus resources that have been designed for some other intervention to see how we can bring them toward scaling up and speeding up this response. We’ll prioritize our response around the immediate need.”
The U.N. has provided hot meals and facilitated food air drops in hard-to-reach areas cut off by flood waters.
Last Thursday, a dam burst caused millions of liters of water to pour into communities in Maiduguri. State authorities say the flood killed dozens of people and affected more than 1 million others.
Many are taking shelter in camps. The disaster follows an alarming malnutrition crisis caused by conflict, climate change and inflation in the region.
Local residents say food prices have skyrocketed as a result of flood waters washing out access roads and markets and farms.
Borno state Governor Babagana Umara Zulum told journalists the full extent of damage remains unknown.
“The unfortunate flood incident is perhaps the most devastating acute disaster that our state has suffered as far as we can remember,” Zulum said. “Many bridges are damaged and we’re yet to assess the integrity of the bridges that form the main link between the two major parts of the city.”
Zulum added that the flood hit the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, which has the most up-to-date medical diagnostic and therapeutic equipment in West Africa. The status and function of the equipment has yet to be ascertained.
Borno state is the heartland region of the Boko Haram terror group. The group’s 15-year insurgency has sparked one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
But the U.N. said Nigeria’s Humanitarian Response Plan for Nigeria, seeking $927 million dollars, is only about 46% funded.
In 2022, Nigeria’s worst flooding in a decade killed more than 600 people and displaced 1.4 million.
On Monday, the Nigerian Correctional Services announced a manhunt for more than 280 escapees from a prison destroyed by the flooding.
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Russia, Iran looking to snare, sway US voters
America’s adversaries are ramping up efforts to impact the outcome of the U.S. presidential election and down-ballot races. VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin reports on the expanding array of sophisticated influence operations taking aim at U.S. voters
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Pakistani man pleads not guilty to US assassination plot charges
NEW YORK — A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges stemming from an alleged plot to assassinate an American politician in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards top commander Qassem Soleimani.
Asif Merchant, 46, entered his plea to one count of attempting to commit terrorism across national boundaries and one count of murder for hire at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn.
The judge ordered that Merchant be detained pending trial.
Federal prosecutors say Merchant spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot.
Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the United States, prosecutors said.
The defendant named Donald Trump as a potential target but had not conceived the scheme as a plan to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Court papers do not name the alleged targets, and no attacks were made. As president, Trump had in 2020 approved the drone strike on Soleimani.
There are no suggestions that Merchant was tied to an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course on Sunday, or a separate shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.
Merchant was arrested in Texas on July 15.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in August that the “modus operandi” described in Merchant’s court papers ran contrary to Tehran’s policy of “legally prosecuting the murder of General Soleimani.”
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Authorities install air quality Monitors around Nairobi
Authorities in Nairobi are trying to tackle the Kenyan capital’s chronic and worsening air pollution. With help from the U.S. Agency for International Development, authorities are placing sensors that can monitor air quality around the densely populated city. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo
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Thousands protest in France as high-profile rape cases rock country
Paris — Thousands of people protested sexual violence across France this past weekend, as two high-profile cases rock the country: one involving a woman who was allegedly drugged and raped by dozens of men for years; the other targeting a once-beloved French clergyman, who fought for the rights of the homeless.
In French cities like Marseille and Nantes, both men and women took part in demonstrations calling for an end to sexual violence.
They carried signs with messages like “No, to the culture of rape,” and “Gisele, we believe you” — in support of 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot.
Pelicot’s former husband is on trial in the southern city of Avignon, accused of drugging her and recruiting dozens of men to rape her over nearly a decade.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Pelicot thanked the protesters and other supporters. They have given her force, she said, to fight for all those who are victims of sexual violence.
The Avignon trial is only the latest of a raft of sexual violence accusations targeting famous French actors and other figures.
Most recently, the spotlight has been on Abbe Pierre, once a crusader for the homeless. For years one of the most popular personalities in France, the priest died in 2007 at the age of 94. But in recent weeks, multiple allegations have surfaced that he sexually assaulted women in France and other countries over the decades. There are now efforts to strike his name from the charities he founded, as well as from parks and streets named after him.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Pope Francis said Abbe Pierre did a lot of good, but was also a sinner — and such things must be spoken about, not hidden.
The head of the French bishop’s association has since said that at least some French bishops had known about the cleric’s alleged abuses for decades.
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US imposes sanctions on 4 Georgians over protest crackdowns
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department imposed on Monday sanctions on two Georgian government officials and two members of the country’s pro-Russian far-right movement who it said were involved in violent crackdowns on protests.
Large street protests erupted in Georgia over a “foreign agent” law, which the South Caucasus country’s parliament passed in May despite criticism, including from U.S. officials, that it was Kremlin-inspired and authoritarian.
A Treasury statement said the financial sanctions on Monday targeted Georgia’s Chief of the Special Task Department Zviad Kharazishvili and his deputy, Mileri Lagazauri, who oversaw security forces who violently suppressed the spring protests.
“The violence perpetuated by the Special Task Department included the brutal beatings of many attendees of the non-violent protests against the new foreign influence law, including Georgian citizens and opposition politicians,” the Treasury said.
It added that Kharazishvili was personally involved in the physical and verbal abuse of protesters.
Also targeted were Konstantine Morgoshia, founder of media company Alt-Info, and associated media personality Zurab Makharadze, Treasury said, accusing them of amplifying disinformation and spreading hate speech and threats.
The dispute around the foreign agents law was seen as a test of whether Georgia, for three decades among the more pro-Western of the Soviet Union’s successor states, would maintain its Western orientation or move closer to Russia.
The Georgian Dream party that controls parliament said the legislation was needed to ensure transparency in foreign funding of NGOs and protect the country’s sovereignty.
Washington has long criticized the law and launched a review into bilateral cooperation with Georgia.
The Biden administration has previously imposed visa bans on members of Georgian Dream, members of parliament, law enforcement and private citizens over the law and the protests.
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Nearly 300 inmates escape after floods bring down prison walls in northeast Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria — Nigerian authorities said 281 inmates escaped after devastating floods brought down a prison’s walls in the country’s northeast.
A major dam collapsed on Sept. 10, unleashing severe flooding that left 30 people dead and over a million displaced, and prompted evacuations across the state of Borno.
Officers attempted to evacuate the city of Maiduguri’s main prison last week when they found out that the prisoners had escaped, Umar Abubakar, spokesperson for the Nigeria Correctional Services said in a statement Sunday night.
“The floods brought down the walls of the correctional facilities including the Medium Security Custodial Centre, as well as the staff quarters in the city,” Abubakar said.
Security personnel were able to recapture seven of the inmates and an operation is still ongoing to locate the rest, he said.
The collapse caused some of the state’s worst flooding since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago. The state government said the dam was at capacity due to unusually high rains.
Two years ago, heavy flooding in Nigeria killed more than 600 people across the country.
West Africa has experienced some of the heaviest flooding in decades this year, affecting over 2.3 million people, a threefold increase from 2023, according to the U.N.
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Coe among 7 candidates to succeed Bach as IOC president
Lausanne, Switzerland — World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe is the highest profile of the seven candidates to have declared on Monday their bid to succeed International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.
Coe will face stiff opposition from, among others, Kirsty Coventry, bidding to become the first woman and African to head the IOC, and cycling boss David Lappartient.
The election will be at the IOC Session in Athens, which runs from March 18-21 next year.
Bach, 70, is standing down after serving 12 years. The German announced at the end of the Paris Games that he would not be seeking another term.
The other four candidates include two from Asia another continent never to have had an IOC president — Jordan’s Prince Faisal al-Hussein and gymnastics chief Morinari Watanabe.
Juan Antonio Samaranch Junior, whose father of the same name was IOC president from 1980-2001 and transformed it into a commercial powerhouse, and a surprise entrant, ski federation president Johan Eliasch, round up the candidates.
First up for the septet is presenting their respective programs to the IOC members at the turn of the year.
“The candidates will present their programs, in camera, to the full IOC membership on the occasion of a meeting to be held in Lausanne (Switzerland) in January 2025,” read a short IOC statement unveiling the candidates.
There will be a transition period post-election — not something Bach enjoyed when he succeeded Jacques Rogge in 2013 with the new president and his team assuming control in June.
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Vietnam puts typhoon losses at $1.6 billion
Hanoi — Typhoon Yagi caused $1.6 billion in economic losses in Vietnam, state media said Monday, as the UN’s World Food Program said the deadly floods it triggered in Myanmar were the worst in the country’s recent history.
Yagi battered Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand with powerful winds and a huge dump of rain more than a week ago, triggering floods and landslides that have killed more than 400 people, according to official figures.
It tore across Vietnam’s densely populated Red River delta — a vital agricultural region that is also home to major manufacturing hubs — damaging factories and infrastructure, and inundating farmland.
The typhoon caused an estimated $1.6 billion in economic losses, state media reported, citing an initial government assessment.
The death toll in Vietnam stands at 292, with 38 missing, more than 230,000 homes damaged and 280,000 hectares of crops destroyed, according to authorities.
In Myanmar, the ruling junta has reported 113 fatalities and said that more than 320,000 people have been forced from their homes into temporary relief camps.
“Super Typhoon Yagi has affected most of the country and caused the worst floods we have seen in Myanmar’s recent history,” Sheela Matthew, WFP’s representative in Myanmar, said in a statement, without giving precise details.
Exact details of the impact on agriculture were not yet clear, she said.
“But I can say for sure that the impact on food security will be nothing less than devastating,” Matthew said.
Severe flooding hit Myanmar in 2011 and 2015, with more than 100 deaths reported on both occasions, while in 2008 Cyclone Nargis left more than 138,000 people dead or missing.
The latest crisis has prompted the junta to issue a rare appeal for foreign aid, with neighbor India responding with 10 tons of materials, including dry rations, clothing and medicine.
Myanmar’s military has blocked or frustrated humanitarian assistance from abroad in the past, including after powerful Cyclone Mocha last year when it suspended travel authorizations for aid groups trying to reach around a million people.
Even before the latest floods, people in Myanmar were already grappling with the effects of three years of war between the junta and armed groups opposed to its rule, with millions forced from their homes by the conflict.
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Japan celebrates historic Emmys triumph for ‘Shogun’
Osaka, Japan — Japan celebrated on Monday the record-breaking Emmy Awards triumph of “Shogun”, although many confessed not having watched the series about the country’s warring dynasties in the feudal era.
“Shogun” smashed all-time records at the television awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, taking home an astounding 18 statuettes and becoming the first non-English-language winner of the highly coveted award for best drama series.
Lead Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Lord Toranaga, became the first Japanese actor to win an Emmy, while Anna Sawai achieved the same for her performance as Lady Mariko.
“As a Japanese, I’m happy Sanada won,” Kiyoko Kanda, a 70-year-old pensioner, told AFP in Tokyo.
“He worked so hard since he moved to Los Angeles,” she said.
“In ‘Last Samurai’, Tom Cruise was the lead, but it’s exciting Sanada is the main character in ‘Shogun’,” Kanda added.
But she admitted that she only watched the trailer.
The series is available only on Disney’s streaming platform, which is relatively new in Japan.
“I want to watch it. I’m curious to know how Japan is portrayed,” Kanda said.
Otsuka, who declined to give her first name, said she, too, has not watched the show.
“But I saw the news and I’m happy he won.” Sanada, now 63, began his acting career at the age of five in Tokyo and moved to LA after appearing in “Last Samurai” in 2003.
The words “historic achievements” and “Hiroyuki Sanada” were trending on X in Japanese, while Sanada’s speech at the awards racked up tens of thousands of views.
Yusuke Takizawa, 41, also only watched a trailer but he said he was amazed by the quality of the show.
“I was impressed by the high-spirited acting, the attention to detail and the film technology,” Takizawa told AFP outside Osaka Castle, a major historical location for the series.
“I think many young people will want to try their hand in Hollywood after watching Sanada,” he said.
Tourists at the castle also welcomed the record Emmy win.
“I think was the best TV show that I’ve seen this year,” said Zara Ferjani, a visitor from London.
“I thought it was amazing… The direction was beautiful, and I really enjoyed watching something that wasn’t in English as well,” the 33-year-old said.
She said she had planned to watch “Shogun” after returning home from Japan.
“But one of my friends strongly advised me to watch it beforehand, just to appreciate the culture more and definitely Osaka Castle more,” she added.
Breaking from cliches
Many in the Japanese film industry were also jubilant.
“He won after many years of trying hard in Hollywood. It’s too cool,” wrote Shinichiro Ueda, director of the hit low-budget film “One Cut of the Dead”, on X.
Video game creator and movie fan Hideo Kojima, who has described the show as “Game of Thrones in 17th-century Japan”, reposted a news story on the win.
The drama, adapted from a popular novel by James Clavell and filmed in Canada, tells the tale of Lord Toranaga, who fights for his life against his enemies alongside Mariko and British sailor John Blackthorne.
A previous TV adaptation made in 1980 was centered on Blackthorne’s perspective.
But the new “Shogun” breaks away from decades of cliched and often bungled depictions of Japan in Western cinema, with Japanese spoken throughout most of the show.
Sanada, who also co-produced the drama, is credited with bringing a new level of cultural and historical authenticity to “Shogun.”
An army of experts, including several wig technicians from Japan, worked behind the scenes to make the series realistic, poring over sets, costumes and the actors’ movements.
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Child abuse case puts banned Malaysian sect back in spotlight
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — On its website, Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISB) describes itself as a Malaysian conglomerate with a vision to implement the Islamic way of life in line with the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.
But the rescue this week of hundreds of children and youths from what Malaysian authorities said was suspected sexual abuse at charity homes allegedly run by GISB has put back in the spotlight the firm’s roots in a religious sect outlawed by the government three decades ago.
GISB acknowledges links to the religious sect Al-Arqam, which was banned in 1994, and names the sect’s late preacher Ashaari Muhammad as its founder, but has largely sought to distance itself from the group’s practices and beliefs, which the government views as heretical.
GISB has said it did not run the homes and has denied all allegations of abuse. In a video posted on Facebook, however, its chief executive said the firm had broken unspecified laws and that there were “one or two” cases of sodomy at the youth homes.
In 2011, GISB made headlines for its controversial views on sex and marriage, which included encouraging polygamous families and setting up the Obedient Wives’ Club, a group that called on wives to submit to their spouses “like prostitutes.”
The police raids on the charity homes in two Malaysian states this week came after several Islamic leaders called on the government to probe GISB’s activities.
Abu Hafiz Salleh Hudin, a lecturer on Islam at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, said he was aware of reports made to Malaysia’s Islamic Development Department (Jakim) about worker exploitation and deviant teachings at GISB as far back as a decade ago.
“They would stress that they were exploited, and they were not being paid for work,” he told Reuters, citing reports made by former GISB members.
The former members had also held on to Al-Arqam’s teachings and beliefs, Abu Hafiz added.
Police say they are investigating other allegations, including money laundering. Authorities say they also plan to scrutinize religious schools run by GISB while Jakim said it would present a report into deviant teachings involving the firm to the cabinet.
Police say most of the youths rescued from the homes in two Malaysian states were children of GISB members.
Many showed signs of abuse, neglect and emotional trauma, while 13 had been sodomized, officials said on Friday.
Residents in Bukit Beruntung, a town in which a police source and locals said authorities had raided several youth homes, expressed shock at the abuse allegations.
“If it’s true, then that is really worrying,” said Mohd Khair Syafie, the imam of a surau, or Muslim prayer hall, in the town, some 50 km outside the capital.
Ashaari Muhammad founded the Al-Arqam movement in 1968, which was initially focused on discussing religious issues.
In the 1980s, the group, which had tens of thousands of followers, was condemned by Malaysia’s religious authorities over what they said were deviant teachings by Ashaari, whose followers claimed he had supernatural powers and could defer death.
Ashaari, who had five wives and 37 children, spent two years in prison in the 1990s and died in 2010.
In 2006, Malaysia’s government outlawed Rufaqa Corp, another company founded by Ashaari, which it described as an attempt to revive Al-Arqam. A Rufaqa official at the time denied it had an other agenda than preaching Islam and building its business.
In an August interview with business daily The Malaysian Reserve, GISB said the company was rebranded from Rufaqa Corp and reiterated it was a commercial entity compliant with Islam.
Munira Mustaffa, executive director of security consultancy Chasseur Group, said GISB’s businesses appeared to help it “hide under the veil of legitimacy.”
“Living in a country where they know they are being watched, GISB have been careful to present themselves as entrepreneurial individuals and legitimate businesspeople,” said Munira.
“But at the same time, they follow the same template as other isolationist communities or cults.”
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First conviction under Hong Kong’s security law for wearing ‘seditious’ T-shirt
HONG KONG — A Hong Kong man on Monday pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan, becoming the first person convicted under the city’s new national security law passed in March.
Chu Kai-pong, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of “doing with a seditious intention an act.”
Under the new security law, the maximum sentence for the offense has been expanded from two years to seven years in prison and could even go up to 10 years if “collusion with foreign forces” was found involved.
Chu was arrested on June 12 at a MTR station wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” and a yellow mask printed with “FDNOL”- the shorthand of another slogan, “five demands, not one less.”
Both slogans were frequently chanted in the huge, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests in 2019 and June 12 was a key kick-off day of the months-long unrests.
Chu told police that he wore the T-shirt to remind people of the protests, the court heard.
Chief Magistrate Victor So, handpicked by the city leader John Lee to hear national security cases, adjourned the case to Thursday for sentencing.
Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China in 1997 under Beijing’s promise of guaranteeing its freedoms, including freedom of speech, would be protected under a “one country, two systems” formula.
Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 punishing secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, after the months-long protests in the financial hub.
In March 2024, Hong Kong passed a second new security law, a home-grown ordinance also known as “Article 23” according to its parent provision in the city’s mini constitution, the Basic Law.
Critics, including the U.S. government have expressed concerns over the new security law and said the vaguely defined provisions regarding “sedition” could be used to curb dissent.
Hong Kong and Chinese officials have said it was necessary to plug “loopholes” in the national security regime.
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Trump safe after second assassination attempt, authorities say
Donald Trump is safe after what officials say was the second, unsuccessful assassination attempt in two months. The FBI took the lead after Sunday’s shooting with the suspect in custody — and with Americans facing another dramatic event in what is already a high-stakes, high-drama election. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.
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‘Shogun’ and ‘Hacks’ win top series Emmy Awards
LOS ANGELES — “Hacks” won the comedy series at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, topping “The Bear,” which took home several of the night’s honors.
“Shogun” won the best drama series win, collecting a whopping 18 Emmys for its first season, just one of several historic wins.
Hiroyuki Sanada won best actor in a drama for “Shogun” on Sunday night at the Emmy Awards, and Anna Sawai won best actress as they became the first two Japanese actors to win Emmys.
Their wins gave the FX series momentum going into one of the night’s top awards, where “Shogun” won best drama series.
“The Bear” came back for seconds in a big way at the ceremony four times including best actor, best supporting actor and best supporting actress in a comedy, while British upstart “Baby Reindeer” won four of its own, including best limited series.
The star of FX’s “The Bear” Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy for the second straight year, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach repeated as best supporting actor.
A surprise came when Liza Colón-Zayas won best supporting actor over major competition.
“How could I have thought it would be possible to be in the presence of Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett,” Colón-Zayas said as tears welled in her eyes as she accepted the award on the stage of the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
She is the first Latina to win in the category.
“To all the Latinas who are looking at me,” she said, “keep believing and vote.”
Netflix’s darkly quirky “Baby Reindeer” won best actor and best writing for the show’s creator and star Richard Gadd and best supporting actress for Jessica Gunning, who plays his tormentor.
Accepting the best limited series award, Gadd urged the makers of television to take chances.
“The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling,” he said. “Good storytelling that speaks to our times. So take risks, push boundaries. Explore the uncomfortable. Dare to fail in order to achieve.”
“Baby Reindeer” is based on a one man-stage show in which Gadd describes being sexually abused along with other emotional struggles.
Accepting that award, he said, “no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better.”
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Gadd has.
Jodie Foster won her first Emmy to go with her two Oscars when she took best actress in a limited series for “True Detective: Night Country.”
The creator of “The Bear” was also a repeat winner. Christopher Storer took his second straight Emmy for directing, an award handed out by reunited “Happy Days” co-stars Ron Howard and Henry Winkler.
White said backstage that he was watching in the wings as Colón-Zayas won and “that was just the greatest.”
He also shouted out two acting wins the show had already scored at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, when Jamie Lee Curtis won best guest actress in a comedy for playing his mother, and Jon Bernthal won best guest actor for playing his big brother.
“The Bear” won six times including most of the top comedy categories at the strike-delayed Emmys in January.
While the third season of FX’s “The Bear” has already dropped, the trio won their second Emmys for its second, in which White’s chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto attempts to turn his family’s grungy Chicago sandwich shop into an elite restaurant. It could still win more Sunday night including best comedy series.
The father-son hosting duo of Eugene and Dan Levy in their monologue at the top of the show mocked the very dramatic “The Bear” being in the comedy category.
“In honor of ‘The Bear’ we will be making no jokes,” Eugene Levy said, to laughs.
Jean Smart won best actress in a comedy for “Hacks.” She has won for all three seasons of “Hacks,” and has six Emmys overall.
She beat nominees including Ayo Edebiri, who as co-star of “The Bear” moved from supporting actress, which she won in January, to lead actress.
Coming into the show the big story was “Shogun,” which had already taken the most Emmys for a show in a single season with 14 at the Creative Arts ceremony.
The FX series about lordly politicking in feudal Japan can still win best drama series.
If “Shogun” faces competition for the best drama prize, it could come for the sixth and final season of “The Crown,” the only show among the nominees that has won before in a category recently dominated by the retired “Succession.”
Elizabeth Debicki took best supporting actress in a drama for playing Princess Diana at the end of her life in the sixth and final season of the show.
“Playing this part, based on this unparalleled, incredible human being, has been my great privilege,” Debicki said. “It’s been a gift.”
Billy Crudup won best actor in a drama for “The Morning Show.”
Streep wasn’t the only Oscar winner trumped by a little-known name. Robert Downey Jr., the reigning best supporting actor winner for “Oppenheimer,” was considered the favorite to win best supporting actor in a limited series for “The Sympathizer,” but that award went to Lamorne Morris for “Fargo.”
“Robert Downey Jr. I have a poster of you in my house!” Morris said from the stage as he accepted his first Emmy.
Several awards were presented by themed teams from TV history, including sitcom dads George Lopez, Damon Wayans and Jesse Tyler Ferguson and TV moms Meredith Baxter, Connie Britton, and Susan Kelechi Watson.
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Shy penguin wins New Zealand’s bird election
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — It’s noisy, smelly, shy – and New Zealand’s bird of the year.
The hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin, won the country’s fiercely fought avian election on Monday, offering hope to supporters of the endangered bird that recognition from its victory might prompt a revival of the species.
It followed a campaign for the annual Bird of the Year vote that was absent the foreign interference scandals and cheating controversies of past polls. Instead, campaigners in the long-running contest sought votes in the usual ways — launching meme wars, seeking celebrity endorsements and even getting tattoos to prove their loyalty.
More than 50,000 people voted in the poll, 300,000 fewer than last year, when British late night host John Oliver drove a humorous campaign for the pūteketeke — a “deeply weird bird” which eats and vomits its own feathers – securing a landslide win.
This year, the number of votes cast represented 10% of the population of New Zealand — a country where nature is never far away and where a love of native birds is instilled in citizens from childhood.
“Birds are our heart and soul,” said Emma Rawson, who campaigned for the fourth-placed ruru, a small brown owl with a melancholic call. New Zealand’s only native mammals are bats and marine species, putting the spotlight on its birds, which are beloved — and often rare.
This year’s victor, the hoiho — its name means “noise shouter” in the Māori language — is a shy bird thought to be the world’s rarest penguin. Only found on New Zealand’s South and Chatham islands — and on subantarctic islands south of the country — numbers have dropped perilously by 78% in the past 15 years.
“This spotlight couldn’t have come at a better time. This iconic penguin is disappearing from mainland Aotearoa before our eyes,” Nicola Toki, chief executive of Forest & Bird — the organization that runs the poll — said in a press release, using the Māori name for New Zealand. Despite intensive conservation efforts on land, she said, the birds drown in nets and sea and can’t find enough food.
“The campaign has raised awareness, but what we really hope is that it brings tangible support,” said Charlie Buchan, campaign manager for the hoiho. But while the bird is struggling, it attracted a star billing in the poll: celebrity endorsements flew in from English zoologist Jane Goodall, host of the Amazing Race Phil Keoghan, and two former New Zealand prime ministers.
Aspiring bird campaign managers — this year ranging from power companies to high school students — submit applications to Forest & Bird for the posts. The hoiho bid was run by a collective of wildlife groups, a museum, a brewery and a rugby team in the city of Dunedin, where the bird is found on mainland New Zealand, making it the highest-powered campaign of the 2024 vote.
“I do feel like we were the scrappy underdog,” said Emily Bull, a spokesperson for the runner-up campaign, for the karure — a small, “goth” black robin only found on New Zealand’s Chatham Island.
The karure’s bid was directed by the students’ association at Victoria University of Wellington, prompting fierce skirmish on the college campus when the student magazine staged an opposing campaign for the kororā, or little blue penguin.
The rivalry provoked a meme war and students in bird costumes. Several people got tattoos. When the magazine’s campaign secured endorsements of the city council and local zoo, Bull despaired for the black robin’s bid.
But the karure – which has performed a real-life comeback since the 1980s, with conservation efforts increasing the species from five birds to 250 – took second place overall.
This weekend as Rawson wrapped up her campaign for the ruru, she too took her efforts directly to the people, courting votes at a local dog park. The veteran campaign manager who has directed the bids for other birds in past years was rewarded by the ruru placing fourth in the poll, her best ever result.
“I have not been in human political campaigning before,” said Rawson, who is drawn to the competition because of the funds and awareness it generates. The campaign struck a more sedate tone this year, she added.
“There’s been no international interference, even though that was actually a lot of fun,” she said, referring to Oliver’s high-profile campaign.
It was not the only controversy the election has seen. While anyone in the world can vote, Forest & Bird now requires electors to verify their ballots after foreign interference plagued the contest before. In 2018, Australian pranksters cast hundreds of fraudulent votes in favor of the shag.
The following year, Forest & Bird was forced to clarify that a flurry of votes from Russia appeared to be from legitimate bird-lovers.
While campaigns are fiercely competitive, managers described tactics more akin to pro wrestling — in which fights are scripted — than divisive political contests.
“Sometimes people want to make posts that are kind of like beefy with you and they’ll always message you and be like, hey, is it okay if I post this?” Bull said. “There is a really sweet community. It’s really wholesome.”
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Mali, Burkina and Niger to launch new biometric passports
Bamako, Mali — Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger will soon launch new biometric passports, Mali’s military leader Colonel Assimi Goita said Sunday, as the junta-led states look to solidify their alliance after splitting from regional bloc ECOWAS.
The three Sahel nations, all under military rule following a string of coups since 2020, joined together last September under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), after severing ties with former colonial ruler France and pivoting toward Russia.
They then said in January that they were turning their backs on the Economic Community of West African States — an organization they accused of being manipulated by France.
In July, the allies consolidated their ties with the creation of a Confederation of Sahel States which will be chaired by Mali in its first year and groups some 72 million people.
“In the coming days, a new biometric passport of the AES will be put into circulation with the aim of harmonizing travel documents in our common area,” Goita said during a televised address late Sunday.
“We will be working to put in place the infrastructure needed to strengthen the connectivity of our territories through transport, communications networks and information technology,” he said.
The announcement came a day before the three states are due to mark the one-year anniversary of the alliance’s creation.
The neighbors are all battling jihadi violence that erupted in northern Mali in 2012 and spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
The unrest is estimated to have killed thousands and displaced millions across the region.
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