The rapid rise in disposable electronic cigarette, or vape, usage is creating a tidal wave of pollution, and it’s raising serious environmental concerns. Aron Ranen reports from New York City about one woman who is trying to make a difference.
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California memorial run honors US service members killed in 2021 Kabul bombing
A memorial run has been held in Simi Valley, California to honor 13 U.S. service members killed three years ago during a suicide bombing as U.S. troops were withdrawing from Afghanistan. VOA’s Genia Dulot attended this year’s run and spoke to two Gold Star families as well as the event organizer, whose son survived the attack at the Kabul airport.
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Japan scrambles jets after Chinese aircraft ‘violates’ airspace
Tokyo — Japan scrambled fighter jets on Monday after a Chinese military aircraft “violated” Japanese airspace, the defense ministry said.
The Chinese aircraft was “confirmed to have violated the territorial airspace off the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture,” the ministry said in a statement, adding it had launched “fighter jets on an emergency basis.”
China’s “Y-9 intelligence-gathering” aircraft entered Japanese airspace at 11:29 am (0229 GMT) for around two minutes, the ministry added.
There was no comment from Chinese authorities.
Local media including public broadcaster NHK said the incident marked the first incursion by the Chinese military’s aircraft into Japan’s airspace.
The ministry said steps were taken by the SDF such as “issuing warnings” to the aircraft, but NHK reported that no weapons, such as flare guns, were used as an alert.
In response to the incident, vice foreign minister Masataka Okano summoned China’s acting ambassador to Japan late Monday, and “lodged firm protest” with the official, as well as calling for measures against a recurrence, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The Chinese diplomat said in response that the matter would be reported to Beijing, according to the ministry.
Japanese and Chinese vessels have previously been involved in tense incidents in disputed areas, in particular the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, known by Beijing as the Diaoyus.
The remote chain of islands have fueled diplomatic tensions and been the scene of confrontations between Japanese coastguard vessels and Chinese fishing boats.
Beijing has grown more assertive about its claim to the islands in recent years, with Tokyo reporting the presence of Chinese coast guard vessels, a naval ship and even a nuclear-powered submarine.
In the past, two non-military aircraft from China – a propeller plane and a small drone – were confirmed to have forayed into the Japanese airspace near the Senkaku islands in 2012 and 2017, according to NHK.
Beijing claims the South China Sea – through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually – almost in its entirety despite an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
The Danjo Islands are a group of small islets located in the East China Sea, off Japan’s southern Nagasaki region.
Japan in recent years has strengthened security ties with the United States to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region, boosting defense spending and moving to acquire “counter-strike” capabilities.
At the same time, it has boosted military ties with the Philippines, which has also been involved in recent territorial standoffs, as well as South Korea.
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Indonesia hosts huge multi-national military exercises
Sidoarjo, Indonesia — Thousands of military personnel from Indonesia, the U.S., and eight other countries began two weeks of exercises Monday, focused on joint capabilities in the Asia-Pacific.
The region, particularly in the South China Sea, has seen tensions rise this year with flashpoints between littoral states claiming sovereignty over disputed islands and waterways.
The annual exercises — known as Super Garuda Shield — started in Sidoarjo, East Java, with Indonesia deploying more than 4,400 troops to the drills.
The Indonesian military said around 1,800 U.S. troops and several hundred from other countries will also take part.
The exercise, first held in 2007, has evolved into a “world-class joint/multinational event designed to enhance our collective capabilities”, said Major General Joseph Harris, the Commander of The Hawaii Air National Guard.
The program includes expert academic exchanges, professional development workshops, a command-and-control exercise, and field training that culminates with a live-fire event, he added.
Training will include staff and cyber exercises, airborne operations, joint strikes, an amphibious exercise, and simulated land operations.
Charles Flynn, commanding general of the U.S. Army Pacific, said in a statement last week that the exercises would show commitment to a safe, stable and secure Indo-Pacific.
The two-week exercise, which will be held until September 6 in multiple locations across the nation, is also joined by participants from Australia, Japan, Britain, Singapore, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand and France.
Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, the Netherlands, Timor Leste, and Papua New Guinea are participating in the exercise as observer nations.
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Ghana presidential contenders promise to ease hardship as campaign ramps up
ACCRA — The two main contenders in Ghana’s presidential election have launched dueling manifestos promising fiscal stability, jobs and a path out of the country’s worst economic downturn in a generation.
Voters will head to the polls on Dec. 7 to elect a successor to President Nana Akufo-Addo, who is stepping down at the end of the two terms he is allowed to serve as head of the West African gold, oil and cocoa-producing nation.
The election will pit ex-president John Dramani Mahama of the main opposition National Democratic Congress party against Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, an economist and former central banker, from Akufo-Addo’s ruling New Patriotic Party.
No party has ever won more than two consecutive terms in government in Ghana’s democratic history.
Frustrations about economic hardship have tainted Akufo-Addo’s presidency. Ghana defaulted on most of its $30 billion external debt in 2022 – the culmination of years of overstretched borrowing compounded by the COVID pandemic, the knock-on impacts of the war in Ukraine and a rise in global interest rates.
The government sought help from the International Monetary Fund and is now restructuring its debt as a condition for a $3 billion support package.
Both Mahama and Bawumia laid out their policy promises over the weekend ahead of a vote analysts predict to be tight two-man contest, even though others are running.
Mahama, 65, vowed to scrap first-year university fees to boost tertiary education and reduce taxes during his first three months in office.
“I will lead a ruthless war against corruption” and recover misappropriated assets, he told supporters in the south central city of Winneba on Saturday.
Mahama invested heavily in infrastructure during his 2013-17 presidency but drew criticism over power shortages, economic instability and alleged state corruption. He was never directly accused of wrongdoing but oversaw the government that was. His government denied wrongdoing.
NPP critics say graft continued and grew worse under Akufo-Addo’s administration. His administration has also denied wrongdoing.
Bawumia promised to simplify the tax system, almost halve the number of ministers and cut public spending by 3% of GDP.
Addressing reporters in the capital Accra on Sunday, he outlined a plan to provide digital training to one million young people to help them find jobs.
Both candidates are from northern Ghana, a long-standing NDC stronghold in which the NPP has made inroads over the past years.
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For Senegalese dreaming of Europe, the deadly Atlantic route is not a deterrent
THIAROYE-SUR-MER, Senegal — Salamba Ndiaye was 22 when she first tried to get to Spain, dreaming of a career as a real estate agent. Without her parents’ knowledge, she made it onto a small fishing boat known as a pirogue, but the Senegalese police intercepted the vessel before it could leave.—
A year later Ndiaye tried again, successfully making it off the coast but this time a violent storm forced the boat to stop in Morocco, where Ndiaye and the other passengers were sent back to Senegal.
Despite her two failed attempts, the 28-year-old is determined to try again. “Right now, if they told me there was a boat going to Spain, I would leave this interview and get on it,” she said.
Ndiaye is one of thousands of young Senegalese who try to leave the West African country each year to head to Spain, fleeing poverty and the lack of job opportunities. Most head to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa, which is used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,300 people have landed on the Canary Islands, 126% more than the same period last year, according to statistics released by Spain’s Interior Ministry.
While most migrants leaving Senegal are young men, aid workers in the Canary Islands say they are increasingly seeing young women like Ndiaye risk their lives as well.
Earlier this year, the EU signed a 210 million euro deal with Mauritania to stop smugglers from launching boats for Spain. But the deal has had little effect on migrant arrivals for now.
The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will visit Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia this week to tackle irregular migration. The West African nations are the main launching pads for migrants traveling by boat.
The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. While there is no accurate death toll because of the lack of information on departures from West Africa, the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims are in the thousands this year alone.
Migrant boats that get lost or run into problems often vanish in the Atlantic, with some drifting across the ocean for months until they are found in the Caribbean and Latin America carrying only human remains.
But the danger of the route is not a deterrent for those like Ndiaye, who are desperate to make a better living for themselves and their families in Europe. “Barsa wala Barsakh,” or “Barcelona or die” in Wolof, one of Senegal’s national languages, is a common motto of those who brave the deadly route.
“Even if we stay here, we are in danger,” said Cheikh Gueye, 46, a fisherman from Thiaroye-sur-Mer, the same village on the outskirts of Senegal’s capital that Ndiaye is from.
“If you are sick and you can’t pay for treatment, aren’t you in danger? So, we take our chances, either we get there, or we don’t,” he added.
Gueye also attempted to reach Europe though the Atlantic route but only made it to Morocco following bad weather, and was sent back to Senegal.
Like many inhabitants of Thiaroye-sur-Mer, he used to make a decent living as a fisherman before fish stocks started to deplete a decade ago due to overfishing.
“These big boats have changed things, before even kids could catch some fish here with a net,” Gueye said, pointing at the shallow water.
“Now we have to go more than 50 kilometers out before we find fish and even then we don’t find enough, just a little,” he adds.
Gueye and Ndiaye blame the fishing agreements between Senegal and the European Union and China, which allow foreign industrial trawlers to fish in Senegalese waters. The agreements impose limits on what they can haul in, but monitoring what the large boats from Europe, China and Russia harvest has proven difficult.
Ahead of the Spanish prime minister’s visit to Senegal on Wednesday, Ndiaye’s mother, Fatou Niang, 67, says the Senegalese and Spanish governments should focus on giving young people in the West African country job opportunities to deter them from migrating.
“These kids don’t know anything but the sea, and now the sea has nothing. If you do something for the youth, they won’t leave,” Niang says.
“But if not, well, we can’t make them stay. There’s no work here,” she said.
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Alaska landslide kills 1,injures 3 in Ketchikan, authorities say
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — One person was killed and three were injured by a landslide that prompted a mandatory evacuation in the Alaska city of Ketchikan, authorities said.
Three people were transported to Ketchikan Medical Center following the landslide, which struck around 4 p.m. Sunday and damaged homes and infrastructure, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and City of Ketchikan said in a joint statement Sunday.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared an emergency for Ketchikan, while Borough Mayor Rodney Dial and city Mayor Dave Kiffer issued a separate emergency declaration.
“Friends, is with a heavy heart we relay that a landslide in the city has taken a life, caused several injuries, damaged homes and impacted our community,” Dial said in the statement.
Kiffer said the loss of life was “heartbreaking, and my heart goes out to those who lost their homes.”
“In my 65 years in Ketchikan, I have never seen a slide of this magnitude. With the slides we have seen across the region, there is clearly a region-wide issue that we need to try to understand with the support of our State geologist,” Kiffer said.
Two of the victims were admitted to the hospital and one was treated and released. All other individuals have been accounted for, the statement said.
Multiple homes were impacted by the landslide and a mandatory evacuation was ordered for residents of Third Avenue and nearby streets, while a shelter was set up at Ketchikan High School, the borough and city said.
A potential secondary landslide area was identified to the south of the original slide location and crews were standing by, the statement said.
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China’s actions in South China Sea ‘patently illegal,’ Philippine Defense Minister says
Manila, Philippines — China’s actions in the South China Sea are “patently illegal,” the Philippines’ defense secretary said Monday following a clash in disputed waters on Sunday over what Manila said was a resupply mission for fishermen.
“We have to expect these kinds of behavior from China because this is a struggle. We have to be ready to anticipate and to get used to these kinds of acts of China which are patently illegal, as we have repeatedly said,” Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told reporters.
Manila’s South China Sea task force accused Chinese vessels of ramming and using water cannons near Sabina shoal against a Philippine fisheries vessel transporting food, fuel and medicine for Filipino fishermen.
The Chinese coast guard said the Philippine vessel “ignored repeated serious warnings and deliberately approached and rammed” China’s law enforcement boat, resulting in a collision.
Asked if the latest incident would trigger treaty obligations between the United States and the Philippines, Teodoro said: “That is putting the cart before the horse. Let us deter an armed attack. That is the more important thing.”
U.S. officials including President Joe Biden have reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to aid the Philippines against armed attacks on its vessels and soldiers in the South China Sea.
“Everybody is too focused on armed attack,’’ Teodoro said. ‘’Let’s make ourselves strong enough so that does not happen.”
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Monday is a public holiday in the Philippines.
The clash on Sunday had overshadowed efforts to rebuild trust and better manage disputes in the South China Sea after months of confrontations.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, including areas claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei.
An international arbitral tribunal in 2016 ruled that China’s claim had no basis under international law, a decision Beijing has rejected.
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Cows obstruct Nigeria’s capital as climate change, development leave herders with nowhere to go
ABUJA, Nigeria — At an intersection seven miles from the presidential villa, frustrated drivers honk as a herd of cattle feeds on the grass beautifying the median strip and slowly marches across the road, their hooves clattering against the asphalt. For the teenage herder guiding them, Ismail Abubakar, it is just another day, and for most drivers stuck in the traffic, it’s a familiar scene unfolding in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.
Abubakar and his cattle’s presence in the city center is not out of choice but of necessity. His family are originally from Katsina State in northern Nigeria, where a changing climate turned grazing lands into barren desert. He moved to Idu — a rural, bushy and less developed part of Abuja — many years ago. But it now hosts housing estates, a vast railway complex and various industries.
“Our settlement at Idu was destroyed and the bush we used for grazing our cattle cut down to pave the way for new houses,” Abubakar said in a smattering of Pidgin English. It forced his family to settle on a hill in the city’s periphery and roam the main streets for pasture.
Fulani herders like Abubakar are traditionally nomadic and dominate West Africa’s cattle industry. They normally rely on wild countryside to graze their cattle with free pasture, but the pressures of modernization, the need for land for housing and crop farming and human-caused climate change are challenging their way of life. To keep cattle off of Abuja’s major roads and gardens, some suggest that herders need to start acquiring private land and operating like other businesses. But to do that, they’d need money and government incentives.
“It’s disheartening,” said Baba Ngelzarma, the president of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, a Fulani pastoralists’ advocacy group. “Nigeria is presented as an unorganized people. The herders take the cattle wherever they can find green grasses and water at least for the cows to survive, not minding whether it is the city or somebody’s land.”
He added that part of the problem is the government’s failure to harness the potential of the livestock industry by offering incentives such as infrastructure like water sources and vet services at designated grazing reserves and providing subsidies.
For its part, the government has said it will address the issue, previously promising fenced-off reserves for cattle herders. President Bola Tinubu announced in July a new livestock development ministry, which Ngelzarma said would help revive the abandoned grazing reserves. No minister has been appointed.
Fewer places to go
Nigeria is home to over 20 million cows, mostly owned by Fulani herders. It has the fourth largest cattle population in Africa, and its dairy market is valued at $1.5 billion. But despite its size, almost 90% of local demand is met through imports, according to the U.S .International Trade Administration. It’s a sign of the industry’s inefficiency, Ngelzarma said, as cows stressed from constant moving and poor diets can’t produce milk.
For Abuja, the city’s environment bears the consequence, and so do businesses when traffic grinds to a halt because cows are crossing busy roads. And in other parts of Nigeria, herders are often involved in violence with farmers over access to land, especially in central and southern Nigeria where the two industries overlap with religious and ethnic divisions.
There are four designated grazing reserves in rural areas surrounding Abuja, but they lack the needed infrastructure and have been encroached on by other farmers and illegal settlers, according to both Ngelzarma and Festus Adebayo, who’s executive secretary of the Housing Development Advocacy Network.
With those reserves not functioning, herders set up settlements anywhere and stay for as long as they can before legitimate owners claim it or the government builds on it.
Mohammed Abbas, 67, has repeatedly had to move locations over the years. Most of his current settlement in the city’s Life Camp neighborhood has been taken over by a newly constructed petrol station, and he is aware that the remaining land will soon be claimed by another owner.
As a smallholder pastoralist, he said he could not afford to buy land in Abuja for a permanent settlement and ranching. To afford one, “I have to sell all my cows and that means nothing will be left to put on the land,” he said in Hausa, sitting outside his hut.
Other pastoralists would rather resist.
“We are not going anywhere again,” said Hassan Mohammed, whose family now occupies a strip on the edge of a new estate near the Idu train station. Once a vast bush, the area has been swallowed by infrastructure and housing projects. Mohammed now also drives a lorry on the side because of the shrinking resources needed to keep cattle.
Despite repeated orders from the owners to vacate, Mohammed said that his family would stay put, using the dwindling strip as their home base while taking their cattle elsewhere each day for pasture. The landowners have repeatedly urged the government to resettle Mohammed’s family, but the government has yet to take action.
“Many don’t have anywhere to call home, so they just find somewhere to sleep at night with the cattle,” said Mohammed, in Hausa. “But for us, we are not leaving except there is a new place within Abuja.”
Making room for development and cows
Folawiyo Daniel, an Abuja-based real estate developer who has endured difficulties with pastoralists that affect his project development, said the issue is a failure of urban planning.
“Real estate development is not the problem,” he said, and the government should revive grazing reserves in the city for pastoralists.
Adebayo, from the Housing Development Advocacy Network, agreed, saying “it is time” for Abuja’s minister Nyesom Wike to take action and prove that “the problem of open grazing in the city of Abuja is solvable.”
Herders should be moved to a place designated for their work or restricted to defined private property, he said.
The official responsible for animal husbandry in the agriculture ministry said they could not comment on a major policy issue without authorization, while the spokesperson for the ministry in charge of Abuja declined a request for an interview.
But in March, after the Belgian ambassador to Nigeria raised concerns to Wike about cattle roaming Abuja’s streets, he replied that efforts were in progress to stop the indiscriminate grazing without disclosing specific details.
Herders say they are not opposed to a restricted form of herding or practicing like a normal business that buys their own feedstock instead of using free pasture and water wherever they find them.
The problem, according to cattle association chief Ngelzarma, is that the government has neglected the sector and does not provide incentives as it does other businesses, giving the examples of irrigation systems for crop farmers and airports for private airline operators paid for by the government.
“The government should revive the gazetted grazing reserves fitted with the infrastructure for water and fodder production, training and veterinary services and generate jobs and revenues,” Ngelzarma said.
“Then, you can say stop roaming about for free pasture,” he said.
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North Korea’s Kim Jong Un oversees drone test
Seoul, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a performance test of drones developed in the country, state media KCNA said Monday.
On Saturday, Kim visited the Drone Institute of North Korea’s Academy of Defense Sciences — and viewed a successful test of drones correctly identifying and destroying designated targets after flying along different preset routes, KCNA said.
Kim called for the production of more suicide drones to be used in tactical infantry and special operation units, such as underwater suicide attack drones, as well as strategic reconnaissance and multi-purpose attack drones, KCNA said.
Kim also called for more tests of the drones’ combat application, to equip North Korean military with them as early as possible, KCNA said.
Pyongyang has ramped up its tactical warfare capabilities involving short-range missiles and heavy artillery that are aimed at striking the South, after having made dramatic advances in longer-range ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
Kim also inspected the construction sites of various North Korean industrial factories Saturday and Sunday, KCNA added.
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China opposes US sanctions on firms with alleged ties to Russia’s war efforts
Beijing — China on Sunday expressed its opposition to the latest U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies over their alleged ties to Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying it will adopt necessary measures to safeguard the rights and interests of the country’s businesses.
The U.S. announced Friday sweeping sanctions on hundreds of firms in Russia and across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, accusing them of providing products and services that enable Russia’s war effort and aiding its ability to evade sanctions. The U.S. Department of State said it was concerned by “the magnitude of dual-use goods exports” from China to Russia.
The Ministry of Commerce in China in its statement firmly opposed the U.S. putting multiple Chinese companies on its export control list. The move bars such companies from trading with U.S. firms without gaining a nearly unobtainable special license.
The ministry said the U.S. action was “typical unilateral sanctions,” saying they would disrupt global trade orders and rules, as well as affect the stability of the global industrial and supply chains.
“China urges the U.S. to immediately stop its wrong practices and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interest of Chinese companies,” it said.
The U.S. action is the latest in a series of thousands of U.S. sanctions that have been imposed on Russian firms and their suppliers in other nations since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The effectiveness of the sanctions has been questioned, especially as Russia has continued to support its economy by selling oil and gas on international markets.
According to the U.S. State Department, some China-based companies supplied machine tools and components to Russia companies.
China has tried to position itself as neutral in the Ukraine conflict, but it shares with Russia high animosity toward the West.
After Western countries imposed heavy sanctions on Russian oil in response to Russia sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, China strongly stepped up its purchase of Russian oil, increasing its influence in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin also underlined the importance of China by meeting in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping soon after being inaugurated for a fifth term in the Kremlin.
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Pro-Iran militants kill 2 Nigerian police officers
Lagos, Nigeria — An attack Sunday by an outlawed pro-Iran Nigerian Shiite group killed at least two law enforcement officers, police said, with three more found unconscious in the capital Abuja.
The capital’s police force confirmed “an unprovoked attack by the proscribed Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN)… on some personnel of the Nigeria Police Force,” said a statement by police spokesperson Josephine Adeh.
During the attack on a police checkpoint, “two police personnel were killed, three [were] left unconscious in the hospital, and three police patrol vehicles [were] set ablaze,” Adeh added.
Inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the late 1970s, the IMN still maintains close ties with Tehran.
It has long been at loggerheads with Nigeria’s secular authorities and was banned in 2019.
Sunday’s attackers carried out their assault wielding machetes, knives and improvised explosive devices, according to the police.
With several arrests made, Abuja’s police commissioner, Benneth C. Igweh, condemned the “unprovoked attack,” vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“The situation is presently under control and normalcy restored,” the police statement added.
In July 2021, after more than five years in prison, IMN leader Ibrahim Zakzaky and his wife were released by a court in Kaduna, in the north of the country.
A Shiite cleric, Zakzaky has repeatedly called for an Iranian-style Islamic revolution in Nigeria — where the Muslim population is predominantly Sunni.
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Tunisia president replaces key ministers in sweeping reshuffle: presidency
Tunis — Tunisian President Kais Saied on Sunday replaced various ministers, including from the foreign and defense portfolios, the Tunisian presidency said in a statement posted on Facebook without explanation.
The abrupt reshuffle replaced 19 ministers and three state secretaries, just days after Saied sacked the former prime minister.
“This morning, August 25, 2024, the President of the Republic has decided to make a governmental change,” said the statement, without further detail.
The move comes as the North African country readies for presidential elections on October 6.
Saied, 66, was democratically elected in 2019 but orchestrated a sweeping power grab in 2021.
He is now seeking a second presidential term as part of what he has said was “a war of liberation and self-determination” aiming to “establish a new republic.”
But while he is running for office, a number of his political opponents and critics are currently in jail or being prosecuted.
Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW), a global watchdog, said Tunisian authorities “have prosecuted, convicted or imprisoned at least eight prospective candidates” for the October vote.
The North African country under Saied was “gearing up for a presidential election amid increased repression of dissent and free speech, without crucial checks and balances on President Saied’s power,” HRW added.
Earlier this month, Abir Moussi, a key opposition figure who has been in jail since October, was sentenced to two years in prison under a “false news” law, days after she reportedly submitted her presidential candidacy via her lawyers.
Other jailed would-be candidates include Issam Chebbi, leader of the centrist Al Joumhouri party, and Ghazi Chaouchi, head of the social-democratic party Democratic Current, both held for “plotting against the state.”
“After jailing dozens of prominent opponents and activists, Tunisian authorities have removed almost all serious contenders from the presidential race, reducing this vote to a mere formality,” said Bassam Khawaja, HRW’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Only two candidates — former member of parliament Zouhair Maghzaoui, 59, and Azimoun leader Ayachi Zammel — were pre-selected to run against Saied.
On Wednesday, local media said a court in the capital Tunis ordered the pre-trial detention of the treasurer of the Azimoun party, which Zammel leads, for “falsifying” financial records.
It remains unclear whether this would affect Zammel’s contention.
So far, 14 presidential hopefuls have been barred from challenging Saied, after Tunisia’s election board said they weren’t able to collect enough ballot signatures.
Several would-be candidates have been accused of forging these signatures, with some being sentenced to prison.
Some hopefuls have also said they were unofficially barred from running because authorities refused to give them a copy of a clean criminal record, which is needed by candidates.
In early August Saied sacked prime minister Ahmed Hachani without explanation and replaced him with social affairs minister Kamel Madouri, the presidency announced at the time.
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Wall Street Week Ahead — ‘Super Bowl’ Nvidia earnings stand to test searing AI trade
New York — The rally in U.S. stocks faces an important test […] with earnings from chipmaking giant Nvidia NVDA.O, whose blistering run has powered markets throughout 2024.
The S&P 500 .SPX has pared a sharp drop it suffered after U.S. economic worries contributed to a sell-off at the beginning of the month and again stands near a fresh all-time high.
Nvidia, whose chips are widely seen as the gold standard in artificial intelligence, has been at the forefront of that rally, jumping by more than 30% since its recent lows. The stock is up some 150% year-to-date, accounting for around a quarter of the S&P 500’s 17% year-to-date gain.
The company’s Aug. 28 earnings report, coupled with guidance on whether it expects corporate investments in AI to continue, could be a key inflection point for market sentiment heading into what is historically a volatile time of the year. The S&P 500 has fallen in September by an average of 0.78% since World War Two, the worst performance of any month, according to CFRA data.
“Nvidia is the zeitgeist stock today,” said Mike Smith, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, which holds the company’s shares in its portfolios. “You can think of their earnings four times a year as the Super Bowl.”
Some investors are getting ready for fireworks. Traders are pricing in a swing of around 10.3% in Nvidia’s shares the day after the company reports earnings, according to data from options analytic firm ORATS. That’s larger than the expected move ahead of any Nvidia report over the last three years and well above the stock’s average post-earnings move of 8.1% over that same period, ORATS data showed.
The results come at the end of an earnings season during which investors have taken a less forgiving view of big tech companies whose earnings failed to justify rich valuations or prodigious spending on AI. Examples include Microsoft MSFT.O, Tesla TSLA.O and Alphabet GOOGL.O, whose shares are all down since their July reports.
Nvidia’s valuations have also climbed, as the stock soared about 750% since the start of 2023, making it the world’s third-most valuable company as of Thursday, while also drawing comparisons to the dotcom bubble of more than two decades ago. The company’s shares trade at about 37 times forward 12-month earnings estimates, compared with a 20-year average of 29 times, according to LSEG Datastream.
Market sentiment could depend as much on Nvidia’s guidance as its results. Evidence that it sees robust demand will be a bullish sign that companies are continuing to invest rather than pull back in anticipation of an economic slowdown, said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager, equities, at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management.
Nvidia’s “connection to the largest companies in the U.S. stock market makes this a must-watch event,” he said. “The biggest piece that investors want to know is whether there is sustainability and what demand will look like in ’25 and ’26,” he said.
The trajectory of monetary policy and the U.S. economy also looms large for investors. In a Friday morning speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offered an explicit endorsement of interest rate cuts, saying further cooling in the job market would be unwelcome.
Investors will be watching U.S. labor market data on Sept. 6 for evidence of whether last month’s unexpected downshift in employment carried over to August. Signs that employment is continuing to weaken could bring back the recession fears that rocked markets earlier this month.
A tight presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and Republican former President Donald Trump may also whip up market uncertainty in the weeks ahead.
The August surge in stocks may make it difficult for markets to make much more headway in the near term even if Nvidia’s earnings impress Wall Street, said John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, which holds shares of the chipmaker.
The S&P 500 trades at 21 times expected earnings, far above its long-term average of 15.7.
“The stock market as a whole is still trading at stretched valuations so the bar remains high,” Belton said.
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Ukrainian shelling kills 5 in border area; Russian missile hits hotel with reporters
Kyiv — Five people died in Ukrainian shelling in Russia’s border region of Belgorod, officials said Sunday, while Russian forces struck a hotel in eastern Ukraine, leaving one journalist missing and two others injured.
Twelve other people were wounded in the Russian village of Rakitone, 38 kilometers (23 miles) from the Ukrainian border, including a 16-year-old girl reported to be in critical condition, said regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. Another man also died in a separate drone attack on the border village of Solovevka, he wrote later on social media.
Russian forces struck a hotel overnight in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in the country’s eastern Donetsk region, injuring two people and leaving one trapped under the rubble, regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said. They were reported to be journalists from Ukraine, the U.S. and the U.K.
Reuters news agency said Sunday that its journalist covering the war in Ukraine was missing and two other team members were hospitalized after Hotel Sapphire, where a six-person crew was staying, was hit “by an apparent missile strike” Saturday. “One of our colleagues is unaccounted for, while another two have been taken to hospital for treatment,” the agency said.
The rest of the team has been accounted for, the news agency said.
Local officials said that the hotel had been struck with an Iskander Russian ballistic missile, leaving the reporters with blast injuries, concussions, and cuts on the body.
Associated Press reporters at the scene described the former hotel as “rubble,” with excavators still being used to clear debris hours after the attack.
In addition to the hotel, a nearby multistory building was also destroyed, Filashkin said, and rescuers were busy clearing the debris at the site.
Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region also came under Russian fire, resulting in multiple civilian injuries, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
In Kharkiv’s Chuhuiv region, five people were injured, including a 4-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, after two houses were struck by Russian fire. In Kharkiv city, eight people were wounded when a two-story house was set on fire by a Russian attack.
In Balakliia, a Russian strike destroyed six houses and damaged others. A 55-year-old man was injured. In the Kupiansk area, a house was set on fire by a Russian attack, wounding four women.
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Mali drone strikes kill at least 15 in northern town
Bamako — At least 15 people, including children, were killed by drone strikes Sunday on the town of Tinzaouaten in north Mali, near where the army suffered a heavy blow last month, Tuareg rebels said.
Mali had already carried out airstrikes on insurgent targets in and around Tinzaouaten shortly after Tuareg and Islamist fighters killed many Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner mercenaries near the town in July.
The town, located near the Algerian border, came under drone attack again Sunday, a spokesperson for a rebel coalition known as the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP) said.
The strikes hit a civilian home, a pharmacy and other parts of town, Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane said via telephone.
Around 15 people are confirmed dead, including children, and the death toll is likely to rise, he added.
Mali’s army did not respond to a request for comment.
The fighting near Tinzaouaten in late July could be Wagner’s heaviest defeat since it stepped in two years ago to help Mali’s junta fight insurgent groups.
Tuareg rebels said they killed at least 84 Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers. An al-Qaida affiliate said it had killed 50 Wagner mercenaries and 10 Malian soldiers.
Neither Mali nor Wagner have said how many troops they lost, although Wagner said it suffered heavy losses.
Both Tuareg separatists and jihadi insurgents liked to al-Qaida and Islamic State operate in north Mali.
The country has been grappling with jihadi insurgents since Islamist groups hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in 2012.
Frustrations over authorities’ failure to restore security contributed to coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger since 2020.
Juntas have subsequently cut ties with Western and regional allies, turning instead to Russia.
The separatists, meanwhile, signed a peace agreement with Mali’s government in 2015. But CSP pulled out of talks in 2022.
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A flash flood on Indonesia’s eastern Ternate Island sweeps away buildings and leaves 13 dead
TERNATE ISLAND, Indonesia — Torrential rains caused a flash flood on Indonesia’s eastern Ternate Island, sweeping away residential areas and leaving 13 people dead on Sunday, officials said.
The deluges cut off the main road and access to the village of Rua in North Maluku province, the hardest hit area, and buried dozens of houses and buildings under the mud. Search and rescue teams worked with locals to recover the bodies and look for those still missing.
The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency says high-intensity rain is still possible in the Ternate City area and its surroundings in the coming days. Local authorities advised residents to remain vigilant and heed instructions in case of further flooding.
Heavy rains cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, where millions live in mountainous areas and near floodplains.
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Mudslide in Thailand’s Phuket kills 13, including 2 Russians, official says
BANGKOK — Thirteen people including a Russian couple died in a mudslide on the Thai resort island of Phuket, the authorities said Sunday, after calling off a search for missing persons.
Heavy rains last week set off the mudslides near the Big Buddha, a popular tourist destination in the south of the country, said Phuket Governor Sophon Suwannarat.
Besides the Russians, nine of the dead were migrant workers from Myanmar and the other two were Thais, Sophon said. About 20 people were injured and 209 households were affected by the mudslide.
A major cleanup is under way, the governor said, adding that the authorities were getting in touch with relatives and embassies of the victims.
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Hurricane Hone sweeps past Hawaii, dumping enough rain to ease wildfire fears
HONOLULU — Hurricane Hone passed just south of Hawaii early Sunday, dumping enough rain for the National Weather Service to call off its red flag warnings that strong winds could cause wildfires on the drier sides of islands in the archipelago.
Hone had top winds of 80 mph (130 kph), according to a 2 a.m. advisory from the Central Pacific Hurricane Center in Honolulu, and was moving west near the southernmost point of the Big Island, close enough to sweep the coast with tropical storm force winds and to drop up to a foot (30 centimeters) or more of rain on the windward and southeast-facing slopes of the Big Island, with locally higher amounts possible.
Hurricane Gilma, meanwhile, increased to a Category 4 hurricane Saturday night, but it was still about 1,480 miles (2,380 kilometers) east of Hilo and forecast to weaken into a depression before it reaches Hawaii.
“Hone’s main threats to the state continue to be the potential for heavy rainfall leading to flooding, damaging winds and large surf along east-facing shores,” the weather service advised early Sunday.
Some Big Island beach parks were closed due to dangerously high surf and officials were preparing to open shelters if needed, Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said.
Hone, whose name is Hawaiian for “sweet and soft,” poked at memories still fresh of last year’s deadly blazes on Maui, which were fueled by hurricane-force winds. Red flag alerts are issued when warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds combine to raise fire dangers. Most of the archipelago is already abnormally dry or in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“They gotta take this thing serious,” said Calvin Endo, a Waianae Coast neighborhood board member who lives in Makaha, a leeward Oahu neighborhood prone to wildfires.
The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze that torched the historic town of Lahaina was the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, with 102 dead. Dry, overgrown grasses and drought helped spread the fire.
For years, Endo has worried about dry brush on private property behind his home. He’s taken matters into his own hands by clearing the brush himself, but he’s concerned about nearby homes abutting overgrown vegetation.
“All you need is fire and wind and we’ll have another Lahaina,” Endo said Saturday. “I notice the wind started to kick up already.”
The cause of the Lahaina blaze is still under investigation, but it’s possible it was ignited by bare electrical wire and leaning power poles toppled by the strong winds. The state’s two power companies, Hawaiian Electric and the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, were prepared to shut off power if necessary to reduce the chance that live, damaged power lines could start fires, but they later said the safety measures would not be necessary as Hone blew past the islands.
Roth said a small blaze that started Friday night in Waikoloa, on the dry side of the Big Island, was brought under control without injuries or damage.
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US rapper Macklemore cancels Dubai gig over alleged UAE role in Sudan war
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — U.S. rapper Macklemore has announced he is cancelling an upcoming show in Dubai over the UAE’s involvement in the conflict in Sudan, charges the Gulf state has denied.
The rapper best known for hits like 2012’s “Thrift Shop” made the announcement in a post on social media on Saturday.
“I have decided to cancel my upcoming show in Dubai this October,” he said.
“Over the last several months I’ve had a number of people reach out to me, sharing resources and asking me to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan,” he said.
“Until the UAE stops arming and funding the RSF I will not perform there,” Macklemore added, referring to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that have been battling the Sundanese army.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army, under the country’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, which is commanded by Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
For months, the army has accused the UAE of supporting the RSF.
In June, Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed called Abu Dhabi’s financial and military support for the RSF the “main reason behind this protracted war.”
The UAE has denied allegations of RSF support as “disinformation,” saying that it’s efforts are focused exclusively towards de-escalation and alleviating Sudan’s humanitarian suffering.
Macklemore has released socially aware music in the past, supporting LGBTQ+ rights while also criticizing ills including poverty and consumerism.
In his latest track released in May, Macklemore voices support for Palestinians and also praises students across the United States protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza.
The song, “Hind’s Hall,” is named after a building at Columbia University that students recently occupied and renamed after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza.
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