China accuses a Philippine vessel of brushing against its ship in disputed waters 

Posted on by SeeEA

BEIJING — China’s coast guard said Sunday it took action against a Philippine vessel that ignored warnings and caused a light collision with its vessel in the disputed South China Sea, where confrontations between the two sides have increased.

Gan Yu, the coast guard spokesperson, said in a statement that the Philippine vessel entered the waters around Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands, known in Chinese as Xianbin Reef in the Nansha Islands. Gan said the Philippine ship ignored the Chinese warning and sailed toward the coast guard ship “unprofessionally” and “dangerously,” causing the two vessels to brush against each other. He said the Philippine vessel also had journalists on board to take pictures to “distort facts.”

“The responsibility is totally on the Philippines’ side. We sternly warn that the Philippine side must immediately stop the infringement and provocation, otherwise it must bear all consequences,” he said. Gan did not elaborate on what control measures the Chinese coast guard took.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in the Philippines said its vessel encountered aggressive and dangerous maneuvers from eight Chinese maritime vessels. It said the actions from the Chinese side were aimed at obstructing its vessel’s humanitarian mission to resupply Filipino fishermen with diesel, food and medical supplies.

China is rapidly expanding its military and has become increasingly assertive in pursuing its territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety. The tensions have led to more frequent confrontations, primarily with the Philippines, though the longtime territorial disputes also involve other claimants including Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

The latest incident came days after Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships collided near Sabina Shoal, a disputed atoll. At least two vessels were reported to be damaged in Monday’s collision but there were no reports of injuries.

Sabina Shoal lies about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of the Philippine province of Palawan, in the internationally recognized exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

The atoll is near Second Thomas Shoal, another flashpoint where China has hampered the resupply of Philippine forces. China and the Philippines reached an agreement last month to prevent further confrontations at Second Thomas Shoal.
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Congo-Brazzaville reports 21 mpox cases

Posted on by SeeAF

Brazzaville, Congo — Twenty-one cases of mpox have been recorded in Congo-Brazzaville, the country’s health minister told state television Sunday.

Gilbert Mokoki said that the central African country had “registered 158 suspect cases” since the beginning of the year, “21 of which we have confirmed.”

The latest two were reported Thursday, he said.

Cases of the infectious disease — formerly known as monkeypox — have been surging in eastern and central Africa, but the virus has also been detected in Asia and Europe, with the World Health Organization declaring an international emergency.

The virus has been reported in five of Congo-Brazzaville’s 15 regions, with the forested areas of Sangha and Likouala in the north particularly affected.

A new variant of mpox has swept across neighboring DR Congo, killing more than 570 people so far this year.

Mokoki said that the epidemic was not alarming in Congo-Brazzaville, but appealed to people to take preventative measures like regularly washing their hands.

While mpox has been known for decades, a new more deadly and more transmissible strain — known as Clade 1b — has driven the recent surge in cases.
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Russian attacks on Ukraine injure at least 29, local authorities say

Posted on by SeeEU

KYIV — Russia launched several missiles and drones overnight targeting northern and eastern Ukraine, injuring at least 29 people, Ukrainian military and local authorities said on Sunday.

The attack targeted Ukraine’s frontline regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, Ukraine’s air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia has been pummeling Ukrainian border regions with strikes, and Kyiv said its surprise incursion earlier this month into Russia’s Kursk region aimed to hinder Moscow’s ability to stage such attacks.

“Most of the missiles did not reach their targets,” the air force said, adding that Russia launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile, an Iskander-K cruise missile and six guided air missiles. It did not specify how many missiles were destroyed.

A missile attack on the northern region of Sumy killed one person, injuring at least 16 more, including three children, local authorities said on Telegram.

Oleh Sinehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region in the east, posted on Telegram that at least 13 people were injured in the Russian attacks, including a 4-year-old child.

Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv city, said a gas pipeline was damaged in the city and at least two houses were destroyed and 10 damaged.

The air force said Russia launched nine attack drones, with Ukraine’s air defense systems destroying eight of them over the Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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Rohingya refugees mark the anniversary of their exodus and demand a safe return to Myanmar 

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COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who live in sprawling camps in Bangladesh on Sunday marked the seventh anniversary of their mass exodus, demanding safe return to Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

The refugees gathered in an open field at Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar district carrying banners and festoons reading “Hope is Home” and “We Rohingya are the citizens of Myanmar,” defying the rain on a day that is marked as “Rohingya Genocide Day.”

On August 25, 2017, hundreds of thousands of refugees started crossing the border to Bangladesh on foot and by boats amid indiscriminate killings and other violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Myanmar had launched a brutal crackdown following attacks by an insurgent group on guard posts. The scale, organization and ferocity of the operation led to accusations from the international community, including the U.N., of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Then-Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered border guards to open the border, eventually allowing more than 700,000 refugees to take shelter in the Muslim-majority nation. The influx was in addition to the more than 300,000 refugees who had already been living in Bangladesh for decades in the wake of waves of previous violence perpetrated by Myanmar’s military.

Since 2017, Bangladesh has attempted at least twice to send the refugees back and has urged the international community to build pressure on Myanmar for a peaceful environment inside Myanmar that could help start the repatriation. Hasina also sought help from China to mediate.

But in the recent past, the situation in Rakhine state has become more volatile after a group called Arakan Army started fighting against Myanmar’s security forces. The renewed chaos forced more refugees to flee toward Bangladesh and elsewhere in a desperate move to save their lives. Hundreds of Myanmar soldiers and border guards also took shelter inside Bangladesh to flee the violence, but Bangladesh later handed them over to Myanmar peacefully.

As the protests took place in camps in Bangladesh on Sunday, the United Nations and other rights groups expressed their concern over the ongoing chaos in Myanmar.

Washington-based Refugees International in a statement on Sunday described the scenario.

“In Rakhine state, increased fighting between Myanmar’s military junta and the AA [Arakan Army] over the past year has both caught Rohingya in the middle and seen them targeted. The AA has advanced and burned homes in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and other towns, recently using drones to bomb villages,” it said.

“The junta has forcibly recruited Rohingya and bombed villages in retaliation. Tens of thousands of Rohingya have been newly displaced, including several who have tried to flee into Bangladesh,” it said.

UNICEF said that the agency received alarming reports that civilians, particularly children and families, were being targeted or caught in the crossfire, resulting in deaths and severe injuries, making humanitarian access in Rakhine extremely challenging.
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German stabbing suspect is 26-year-old Syrian man who admitted to the crime

Posted on by SeeEU

FRANKFURT, Germany — The suspect in custody for a stabbing rampage in the western German city of Solingen that killed three people and injured eight is a 26-year-old Syrian man, authorities said early Sunday.

The suspect turned himself in and admitted to the crime, Duesseldorf police and prosecutors said in a joint statement.

“The involvement of this person is currently under intensive investigation,” they said.

The attack, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility, occurred Friday evening in the Fronhof, a market square where live bands were playing at a festival to celebrate Solingen’s 650-year history. Mourners have made a makeshift memorial near the scene.

The arrest of the suspect threatens to stoke fears ahead of three state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, which the anti-immigrant far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning.

The suspect came from a home for refugees in Solingen that was searched on Saturday, said North Rhine-Westphalia’s interior minister, Herbert Reul.

Der Spiegel, citing unidentified security sources, reported that the man moved to Germany late in 2022 and sought asylum, and that his clothes had been smeared with blood.

The police declined to comment on the Spiegel report.

Meanwhile, German federal prosecutors have taken over the case and are investigating whether the suspect was a member of Islamic State, a spokesperson for the prosecutors said.

The group described the man who carried out the attack as a “soldier of the Islamic State” in a statement on its Telegram account on Saturday: “He carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”

It did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion, and it was not clear how close any relationship between the attacker and Islamic State was.

Hendrik Wuest, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, on Saturday described the attack as an act of terror.

Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has counted around a dozen Islamist-motivated attacks since 2000.

One of the biggest was in 2016, when a Tunisian drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 and injuring dozens.

“The risk of jihadist-motivated acts of violence remains high. The Federal Republic of Germany remains a direct target of terrorist organizations,” the BKA said in the report earlier this year.
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Power production contracts with Chinese companies need review, Pakistani minister says

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistani Minister for Power Awais Leghari says contracts with Chinese power producers that built and run power plants in Pakistan need to be revised.

“I think the terms and conditions that we already have with the Chinese as far as their IPPs [independent power producers] are concerned, they need another look,” Leghari told VOA in an interview this week.

The power projects, set up mostly in the last decade, helped end hourslong blackouts. But contracts require that Pakistan pay for the entire generation capacity of each power plant, regardless of how much electricity is used. A failure to spur industrial growth that could help utilize additional power, and the inability to reduce transmission losses, has left Pakistan with huge bills to pay for unused and wasted power generation capacity in addition to repaying project loans.

Independent power plants set up by Pakistani companies in the country also have contract terms similar to those of Chinese-run plants. Experts say Pakistan’s efforts to conduct an across-the-board audit of domestic and foreign-owned independent power plants show Beijing does not want its companies to be singled out as problematic, nor does it want to be alone in offering concessions to Islamabad.

Leghari is leading a power sector reform task force created after his recent trip to China. Reform plans aimed at cutting power sector losses include auditing all independent power plants.

Experts say Pakistan’s efforts to conduct an across-the-board audit of domestic and foreign-owned independent power plants in the coming days show Beijing does not want its companies to be singled out as problematic, nor does it want to be alone in offering concessions to Islamabad.

Leghari said the Chinese government and companies are already engaging with Pakistan on the reprofiling of power sector debt and to convert coal-fired power plants to local fuel.

“Those are changes in the terms and conditions of how the Chinese IPPs are working with us. Those would give us very substantial benefits to harvest in terms of [electricity] tariff reductions,” the power minister said, referring to Pakistan’s efforts to also bring down skyrocketing electricity prices for consumers.

Islamabad owes more than $15 billion to Chinese power plant operators. It is seeking rescheduling of payments to gain financial breathing room in a bid to obtain much-needed financing from the International Monetary Fund.

Leghari and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb went to Beijing late last month to discuss power sector debt relief.

The trip came days after Islamabad reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF for a three-year, $7 billion loan program. The bank’s board must still approve the deal.

Leghari said China, like the IMF, wants to see broader reforms from Pakistan.

China and the IMF “are wanting to look at the entire economic or power sector reform that we have already authored and embarked upon,” Leghari said. “I think the more the confidence they have in our economic reform agenda, the better would be the response.”

Beijing has not publicly addressed Islamabad’s request for rescheduling energy sector debt. However, Pakistan’s daily Express Tribune reported it has agreed to convert three Chinese-owned power plants in Pakistan from using imported to local coal.

Pakistan hopes to save hundreds of millions of dollars annually by switching to local coal for power generation.

The change may come at a high cost. Experts say Chinese investors struggling to recover payments may demand higher insurance premiums and profit margins if they are to expand mining operations, reducing savings for Pakistan.

“It’s going to be a win-win situation for everyone,” Leghari said, rejecting the concerns.

“Unless that isn’t there, people will not invest, lenders will not give money.”

Pakistan will also need infrastructure to transport local coal long distances, and power plants may need to make technical design changes to use Pakistani coal, which is known to be dirtier and less efficient than imported coal.

“There has been an overwhelming response to have a look and run technical and financial feasibilities on all the aspects of coal conversion and reprofiling,” Leghari insisted, while rejecting environmental concerns about shifting to local coal.

Leghari played down the possibility of scaring Chinese investors as Pakistan seeks a review of past contracts, saying Islamabad holds relationships with investors “dear to our heart.”

“Whatever will happen, with whomever, will be with mutual consent,” he said.
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Sunflower oil dethrones olive oil in Spain’s kitchens as prices soar

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madrid — Sunflower oil has dethroned olive oil as king of the kitchen in Spain, the world´s largest olive oil producer, as rising prices force consumers to switch to cheaper options. 

Spaniards bought 107 million liters (28.3 million gallons) of all types of olive oil in the first half of 2024 compared with 179 million liters of sunflower oil, according to Spain’s biggest olive oil bottling association, Anierac.  

Until this year, olive oil has been the most popular cooking oil in Spanish households, accounting for 62% of sales by volume in 2023 while sunflower oil represented almost 34%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. 

“It is clear that olive oil consumption is falling in Spain,” said Primitivo Fernandez, spokesman for Anierac. “There are households that used to buy only olive oil and for the first time are now buying sunflower oil and olive oil,” he said. 

Olive oil sales by volume fell 18% from the first half of 2023, Anierac said. Sunflower oil sales increased by 25% in volume last year, according to official data. 

A bottle of sunflower oil cost an average of 1.86 euros ($2.07) a liter last year, while pricier olive oil types cost upwards of 6 euros a liter, 50% more than in 2022, official data showed. 

Weather’s effects

Spain usually supplies around 40% of the world’s olive oil, but heat waves in the spring and a prolonged drought reduced olive harvests over the past two years, doubling olive oil prices to record levels. 

That has pushed the staple of the Mediterranean diet beyond the reach of poor households in Spain, which are switching to cheaper sunflower oil, according to a Ministry of Agriculture report on food consumption trends in 2023. 

At the end of last year, olive oil was mainly consumed in middle-class and upper-middle-class households, the report said. 

One-liter bottles of extra-virgin olive oil were selling for as much as 14.5 euros ($15.77) in some supermarkets last year, putting them in the category of products retailers fit with security tags. 

In June, the Spanish government cut the value added tax on olive oil to make it more affordable even as prices have eased a little this year. 

Spain’s largest supermarket chain, Mercadona, has cut the price of olive oil by 25% this year and this week was offering 1 liter bottles below 7 euros to try to woo back customers, a company source said.
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Weeks after floods, Vermont businesses struggling to get visitors to return

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burke, vermont — Two bouts of flooding from storms in July has hampered businesses and destinations in an economically depressed section of northern Vermont, with some still closed as they continue to repair damage and others urging visitors, who were deterred by the weather, to make the trip. 

Kingdom Trails, a popular destination for mountain bikers, draws tens of thousands of visitors a year. But the storms that hit the region on July 10 and July 30 washed away some roads and bridges, damaged homes and trails, and discouraged visitors at the height of the season. 

Businesses and destinations are picking up the pieces, with some still closed in nearby Lyndonville, while others want to get the word out that they are very much open. 

“I can’t stress enough that we are open and our community is welcoming people,” said Abby Long, executive director of Kingdom Trails. “We’re encouraging folks to not only come visit Kingdom Trails and have an awesome time but sign up to volunteer mucking and gutting houses for the morning and then relax on the trails in the afternoon.” 

The storms caused $300,000 in damages to the trails — and that doesn’t account for the loss of membership revenue, she said. The trails were closed for about a day and a half as crews worked furiously to get them back open. The cost of repairs comes on top of the $150,000 in damages suffered in last summer’s flooding. 

“That is not sustainable,” Long said. 

So far, 341 businesses in Vermont have reported flood damage to the state this year, according to Economic Development Commissioner Joan Goldstein. Last summer, about 1,100 businesses were affected, she said. 

In Lyndonville, a popular diner that had been in business since 1978 will not be reopening after getting damaged in the July 10 storms. The owner of the Miss Lyndonville Diner is having repairs done and plans to sell the restaurant. She told the Caledonian Record that the flooding convinced her it was time to retire. 

Leaving ski industry

The nearby Village Sport Shop, which also has been in business for nearly 50 years, has decided to close its flooded Lyndonville shop and exit the ski industry, according to a social media post by the business. 

“With the multiple flooding events we have endured and the evolution we have needed to take as a business, we have come to the decision it is time to turn our focus towards the summer side of the business and relieve ourselves from the flood risks the lowest lying real estate on the strip endures,” the post said. The business has a trailside bicycle shop in East Burke. 

A bagel shop and a Walgreens drugstore were still temporarily closed as they recover from the flood damage. 

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration making federal funding available to help individuals and communities recover from the July 9-10 flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. Governor Phil Scott has requested a separate disaster declaration for the July 30 storms and flooding. 

In May, Vermont became the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by extreme weather fanned by climate change. But officials have acknowledged that collecting any money will depend on litigation against a much-better-resourced oil industry. 

In Burke, a town of about 1,650 that is home to the Burke Mountain ski area, Kingdom Trails is a huge economic driver, said Town Administrator Jim Sullivan. 

“It’s traumatic, it’s unbelievable the extent that it ripples out,” he said. “If Kingdom Trails can’t open, people cancel their reservations at the Airbnbs and at the inns. We have restaurants that are counting on all of those people coming here. And it’s just a chain event that eventually dwindles where you have these absolutely beautiful days and you just don’t have the people here that we normally would have if we didn’t have this devastation.” 

‘Screeching halt’

The East Burke Market was having a really good summer but when the trails closed down, business “came to a bit of a screeching halt,” said co-owner Burton Hinton. 

Each of the storms caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in road and property damage, Sullivan said. The town lost a bridge in the July 10 flooding and the whole mountain road in the storm weeks later, he said. 

“We’re still waiting for some direction from the federal government. In the meantime, everybody has really come together and done a great job of helping each other. True community,” he said. 

About 60 student-athletes who race in cross-country mountain biking with the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling League, and 40 coaches, were in Burke to train at Kingdom Trails when the latest flooding hit on July 30. 

The group had to pivot to ride on gravel for a few days but then some trails reopened quickly, said Michael Morrell, with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, who was with them. 

“The trail system up here and the trail crew are just so efficient, and the trails, many of the trails, they drain very well,” he said on August 1. 

Still, he said he felt terrible for those reliant on getting tourists to visit the local trails. 

“I feel so bad that their roads are closed,” Morrell said. ” … We’re just glad that we can help support them in any way we can.”
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Spanish athlete with albinism fled Mali, now chases gold at Paralympics

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LUGO, Spain — When Adiaratou Iglesias crossed the finish line at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, she did not know she had bagged a gold in the women’s 100-metre T13 race until she was told.

The visually impaired Spanish athlete, who goes by Adi and also won a 400m silver in Tokyo, said she now dreamed of hearing her adoptive family shout “gold” when she completes her races at the Paris Games this week.

Iglesias was born in Mali with albinism, a genetic condition that inhibits the production of melanin which pigments the skin, hair and eyes. Albinism impairs her visual perception by 90%, but thick corrective eyewear allows her to see around 20%.

“I don’t know anything when I cross the finish line because I can’t see what’s on my sides,” the 25-year-old told Reuters.

Iglesias said her biological parents decided to send her to Spain when she was 11 to prevent her from suffering attacks based on her albinism.

In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, people with albinism are sometimes killed for their body parts, which are prized in ritual witchcraft.

As a child, Iglesias used to run errands for her mother in Bamako, and she invariably did it as quickly as possible.

“I’ve always loved running and been passionate about it but I couldn’t (practice athletics) due to life circumstances until 2014,” she said, crediting the support from her adoptive mother, Lina Iglesias, without which “this never would’ve been possible.”

After spending time at a children’s shelter in northern Spain, Iglesias was adopted in 2013 and moved to the northwestern city of Lugo, obtaining Spanish citizenship.

Lina, 60, held back tears and beamed with pride when asked what it would mean to hug her daughter after winning in Paris. “It’d be a big thrill for me but not much more than what I feel each time I see her run or win.”

Last year, Iglesias — who is a fan of Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal — was invited by the European Commission to talk about combatting hate speech and hate crimes.

Despite spending most of her time at a high-performance center for elite athletes in Madrid, she wants to keep her medals — which include two golds from the 2021 European Championships and two silvers from the 2019 World Championships — in her childhood room in Lugo.

“It’ll be my museum, and it makes (Lina) very happy,” Iglesias said while sitting on her bed.
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EU: Maduro has not shown evidence to declare victory in Venezuela elections

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MEXICO CITY — The European Union’s top diplomat on Saturday said that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has still “not provided the necessary public evidence” to prove he was the winner of July’s elections, days after the country’s Supreme Court backed the government’s disputed claims of victory.

The bloc joined a slate of other Latin American countries and the United States in rejecting the Venezuelan high court’s certification. Authorities repeated calls for Maduro to release the election’s official tally sheets, considered the one verifiable vote count in Venezuela as they are almost impossible to replicate.

“Only complete and independently verifiable results will be accepted and recognized,” Josep Borrell, the high representative of the EU, said in a statement.

Borrell’s comments came as the leaders of Brazil and Colombia also demanded the release of the tallies, saying on Saturday the “credibility of the electoral process can only be restored through the transparent publication of disaggregated and verifiable data.”

The joint statement from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro didn’t go as far as to reject the court certification. Many had been waiting to see how the two leftist leaders would respond to the court because both are close allies of Maduro and have been working to facilitate talks with both sides.

Maduro claims that he won the presidential vote, but so far has refused to release the tallies. Meanwhile, the main opposition coalition has accused Maduro of trying to steal the vote.

Opposition volunteers managed to collect copies of voting tallies from 80% of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide that show former opposition candidate Edmundo González won by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The Supreme Court and other government entities alleged those tallies were forged.

The Venezuelan government rejected Borrell’s statements, calling them “interventionist.” Its Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the “continued disrespect” to Venezuela’s sovereignty by the EU could “considerably affect diplomatic, political and economic relations.”

Lula and Petro said they “take note” of the court’s ruling, but added they are still awaiting release of the tallies.

The Brazilian and Colombian leaders also called on actors in Venezuela to “avoid resorting to acts of violence and repression” as security forces arrested more than 2,000 people and cracked down on demonstrations that erupted spontaneously throughout the country protesting the results. But the two leaders didn’t directly accuse the Maduro government of carrying out the violence.

The arrests have again spread fear in a country that has seen other government crackdowns during previous times of political turmoil.

At the same time, key opposition figure Maria Corina Machado has since gone into hiding and the government said Friday it will order González to provide sworn testimony in an ongoing investigation, claiming he was part of an effort to spread panic by contesting the results of the election.

Both Lula and Petro have previously been criticized for what some say have been lenient policies toward Maduro’s government, but their tone has grown more stern in recent months, especially in the wake of the election fallout.

Their two countries are neighbors to Venezuela and their governments were to witness agreements struck between Maduro and the opposition that aimed to chart the path to free and fair elections, which the opposition and other observers accused Maduro of violating. The two leaders reiterated their willingness to facilitate dialogue between the government and the opposition.

“The political normalization of Venezuela requires the recognition that there is no lasting alternative to peaceful dialogue and democratic coexistence,” the statement read. 
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Sudan’s de facto ruler won’t join peace talks, vowing to ‘fight for 100 years’

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Port Sudan, Sudan — Sudan’s de facto ruler, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said Saturday his government would not join peace talks with rival paramilitaries in Switzerland, vowing instead to “fight for 100 years.” 

“We will not go to Geneva … we will fight for 100 years,” Burhan, whose troops have been battling the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for over 16 months, told reporters in Port Sudan. 

The United States opened talks in Switzerland on August 14 aimed at easing the human suffering and achieving a lasting cease-fire. 

While an RSF delegation showed up, the Sudanese armed forces were unhappy with the format and did not attend, though they were in telephone contact with the mediators. 

The talks were co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, with the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations completing the so-called Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group (ALPS). 

They wrapped up Friday without a cease-fire but with progress on securing aid access on two key routes into the country, which is gripped by one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. 

The brutal conflict has forced one in five people to flee their homes, while tens of thousands have died. More than 25 million across Sudan — more than half its population — face acute hunger. 
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4 injured in stabbing attack in Sydney, Australia, police say

Posted on by SeeEA

sydney, australia — Four people — including a police officer — were injured on Sunday in a mass stabbing in Sydney, Australia, police said. It was the latest in a series of stabbing attacks in the city this year. 

Police said in a statement on Sunday morning that four people were “injured following a crash and suspected stabbing a short time ago.” 

“There is definitely an incident in Engadine,” a police spokesperson said, referring to a suburb in the south of the city of around 5 million people. 

Police said they did not believe anyone was killed in the attack. 

They said a man who allegedly ran from the scene was Tasered and has been taken into custody. 

A police officer was among those injured in the attack, authorities said. 

Sydney has seen a spate of knife attacks this year, prompting the New South Wales state government to toughen its knife laws. The state parliament passed laws in June giving police electronic metal-detecting scanners to check people without a warrant at shopping centers, sporting venues and public transport stations. 

In April, six people were killed and 12 injured in a knife attack at a mall in Sydney’s Bondi area. 
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CEO of Telegram messaging app arrested in France, say French media

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paris — Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV and BFM TV said, citing unnamed sources. 

Telegram, particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union, is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and WeChat. It aims to hit 1 billion users in the next year.  

Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold. 

Durov was traveling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation. 

TF1 and BFM both said the investigation was focused on a lack of moderators on Telegram, and that police considered that this situation allowed criminal activity to go on undeterred on the messaging app. 

Telegram did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The French Interior Ministry and police had no comment. 

App becomes popular during wartime

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Telegram has become the main source of unfiltered — and sometimes graphic and misleading — content from both sides about the war and the politics surrounding the conflict. 

The app has become preferred means of communications for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his officials. The Kremlin and the Russian government also use it to disseminate their news. It has also become one of the few places where Russians can access news about the war.

TF1 said Durov had been traveling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at around 18:00 GMT.  

Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, said some governments had sought to pressure him but the app, which has now 900 million active users, should remain a “neutral platform” and not a “player in geopolitics.” 

The Russia Embassy in France told the Russian state TASS news agency that it was not contacted by Durov’s team after the reports of the arrest, but it was taking “immediate” steps to clarify the situation.  

Bloggers encourage protesting French embassies

Russia’s representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, and several other Russian politicians were quick to accuse France of acting as a dictatorship. 

“Some naive persons still don’t understand that if they play [a] more or less visible role in [the] international information space it is not safe for them to visit countries which move towards much more totalitarian societies,” Ulyanov wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

Several Russian bloggers called for protests at French embassies throughout the world at noon Sunday. 
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French authorities arrest suspect behind synagogue explosion that injured officer

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NICE, France — French police apprehended and detained the suspect behind the arson attack on a synagogue in a southwestern Mediterranean town that injured a police officer, the country’s acting interior minister said early Sunday.

Two cars parked at the Beth Yaacov synagogue complex in the seaside resort town of La Grande Motte near Montpellier were set ablaze just after 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) Saturday, the National Antiterrorism Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Saturday.

“The alleged perpetrator of the arson attack on the synagogue has been arrested,” Gerald Darmanin, the acting interior minister, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. He visited the site Saturday afternoon along with acting Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and met with local officials and the synagogue staff.

Darmanin also hailed the “professional conduct” of police forces and its elite intervention unit “despite the gunfire” during the operation. He did not provide further information.

Firefighters discovered additional fires at two entrances to the synagogue. A police officer who walked up to the site was injured after a propane gas tank in one of the vehicles exploded, the prosecutor’s statement said.

Five people, including the rabbi, who were present in the synagogue complex at the time of the attack were unharmed, it added.

Prosecutors were investigating the attack as an attempted assassination linked to a terrorist group and destruction of property with dangerous means, and a crime planned by a terrorist group with an intent to cause harm, the statement said.

After the attack Saturday, Darmanin ordered police reinforcements to protect Jewish places of worship following what was “clearly a criminal act.”

“I want to assure our Jewish fellow citizens of my full support and say that at the request of President Emmanuel Macron all means are being mobilized to find the perpetrator,” Darmanin posted on X. He ordered more police officers deployed at Jewish places of worship around the country following a surge of antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

La Grande Motte Mayor Stéphan Rossignol said that investigators were reviewing the city’s surveillance videos and said that a lone suspect was spotted at the site of the attack.

“The individual in question did not manage to get inside the synagogue, even though that was clearly his objective.” Rossignol said in an interview with broadcaster France Info.

Prosecutors said a male suspect spotted in surveillance videos fleeing the site was carrying a Palestinian flag and a weapon. They spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with regulations amid an ongoing investigation.

President Emmanuel Macron said the synagogue attack was a “terrorist act” and assured that “everything is being done to find (the) perpetrator.”

“The fight against antisemitism is a constant battle,” Macron said on X.

Attal, the acting prime minister, said the synagogue was targeted in the “antisemitic attack,” a “shocking and appalling” act of violence.

“Once again, French Jews have been targeted and attacked because of their beliefs,” Attal said after meetings in La Grand Motte. “We are outraged and repulsed.”

At least 200 police officers and other security personnel were deployed to apprehend the perpetrator, Attal added.

The assailant who hit the synagogue on the Shabbat morning was “very determined” to cause damage and casualties, Attal said and added that preliminary evidence collected by investigators shows that “we have narrowly avoided a tragedy.” 
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Unusual weather leads to summer snowfall in western mountains of US

Posted on by SeeUS

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California — An unusually cold weather system from the Gulf of Alaska interrupted summer along the West Coast of the United States on Saturday, bringing snow to Washington state’s Mount Rainier and a lookout point of California’s Sierra Nevada.

Photos posted by the National Weather Service and local authorities showed a white-covered peak from Rainier and a dusting of snow at Minaret Vista, a lookout point southeast of Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada.

Madera County Deputy Sheriff Larry Rich said it was “definitely unexpected” to see snow at Minaret Vista in August.

“It’s not every day you get to spend your birthday surrounded by a winter wonderland in the middle of summer,” he said in a statement. “It made for a day I won’t soon forget, and a unique reminder of why I love serving in this area. It’s just one of those moments that makes working up here so special.”

Snow also fell overnight on Mammoth Mountain, a ski destination in California, with the National Weather Service warning hikers and campers to prepare for slick roads.

More light snow was possible in California on the crest of the Sierra Nevada, mostly around Tioga Pass and higher elevations of Yosemite National Park, the National Weather Service said.

August snow has not occurred in those locations since 2003, forecasters said.

Tioga Pass rises to more than 9,900 feet (3,017 meters) and serves as the eastern entryway to Yosemite. But it is usually closed much of each year by winter snow that can take one or two months to clear.

“While this snow will not stay around very long, roads near Tioga Pass could be slick and any campers and hikers should prepare for winter conditions,” the weather service wrote.

While the start of ski season is at least several months away, the hint of winter was welcomed by resorts.

“It’s a cool and blustery August day here at Palisades Tahoe, as a storm that could bring our first snowfall of the season moves in this afternoon!” the resort said in a social media post Friday.

The “anomalous cool conditions” will spread over much of the western U.S. by Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Despite the expected precipitation, forecasters also warned of fire danger because of gusty winds associated with the passage of the cold front.

At the same time, a flash flood watch was issued for the burn scar of California’s largest wildfire so far this year from Friday morning through Saturday morning.

The Park Fire roared across more than 671 square miles (1,748 square kilometers) after it erupted in late July near the Central Valley city of Chico and climbed up the western slope of the Sierra.

The fire became California’s fourth largest on record, but it has been substantially tamed recently. Islands of vegetation continue to burn within its existing perimeter, but evacuation orders have been canceled.

California’s wildfire season got off to an intense start amid extreme July heat. Blazes fed on dried-out vegetation that grew during back-to-back wet years. Fire activity has recently fallen into a relative lull.

Forecasts call for a rapid return of summer heat as the cold front departs.
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Nikki Haley in Taiwan says an isolationist policy is not ‘healthy’

Posted on by SeeEA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on a visit to Taiwan Saturday that an isolationist policy isn’t “healthy” and called on the Republican Party to stand with her country’s allies, while still putting in good words for the party’s nominee, Donald Trump.

Haley, who ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, told reporters in the capital, Taipei, that supporting U.S. allies, including Ukraine and Israel, is vital. She underscored the importance of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, to be brought under control by force if necessary.

“I don’t think the isolationist approach is healthy. I think America can never sit in a bubble and think that we won’t be affected,” she said.

While the U.S. doesn’t formally recognize Taiwan, it is the island’s strongest backer and main arms provider. However, Trump’s attempt to reclaim the presidency has fueled worries. He said Taiwan should pay for U.S. protection in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek published in July and dodged answering the question of whether he would defend the island against a possible Chinese military action.

When Haley shuttered her own bid for the Republican nomination, she did not immediately endorse Trump, having accused him of causing chaos and disregarding the importance of U.S. alliances abroad. But in May she said she would be voting for him, while making it clear that she felt her former boss had work to do to win over voters who supported her.

On Saturday, she spoke in Trump’s favor. She said that having previously served with Trump’s administration, “we did show American strength in the world,” pointing to their pushback against China and their sanctioning of Russia and North Korea, among other efforts.

“I think that all of that strength that we showed is the reason that we didn’t see any wars, we didn’t see any invasions, we didn’t see any harm that happened during that time. I think Donald Trump would bring that back,” she said.

Trump has claimed that if elected, he would end the conflict in Ukraine before Inauguration Day in January. But Russia’s United Nations ambassador said he can’t. Trump’s public comments have varied between criticizing U.S. backing for Ukraine’s defense and supporting it, while his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, has been a leader of Republican efforts to block what have been billions in U.S. military and financial assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022.

Concerns among Ukraine and its supporters that the country could lose vital U.S. support have increased as Trump’s campaign surged.

Haley criticized Trump’s rival, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, saying she would “do exactly” what President Joe Biden had done. She said Harris was part of his administration when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and when the Hamas-Israel war broke out last year.

“She was in the situation room right next to Joe Biden. She was there making the exact same decisions. Those decisions have made the world less safe,” she said.

Haley added that while the Republicans and Democrats may not currently concur on much, they agree on “the threats of China,” adding that Taiwan is now looking “to make sure that if China starts a fight with them, that they are prepared to make sure that they can fight back.”

She said her party should stand with the country’s allies and make sure that U.S. shows strength around the world. She also said any authoritarian regime and “communists” harming or hurting other free countries should be a personal matter to the U.S.

“We don’t want to see communist China win. We don’t want to see Russia win. We don’t want to see Iran or North Korea win,” she said.

Haley met Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te during this week’s trip. She called for more international backing for the self-ruled island, a coordinated pushback against China’s claims over it, and for Taiwan to become a full member of the United Nations.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that 38 warplanes and 12 vessels from China were detected around the island during a 24-hour period from Friday morning. Thirty-two of the planes crossed the middle of the line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary that’s considered a buffer between the island and mainland.
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11 dead, 14 missing in China after heavy rainstorms

Posted on by SeeEA

BEIJING — Heavy rainstorms that swept through a city in northeast China this week killed 11 people and left 14 others missing, while causing more than $1 billion in damages, state media reported Friday. 

State broadcaster CCTV said an officer who was trying to save lives was one of the people who died in the city of Huludao in Liaoning province. Rescuers were still trying to find the people who went missing during the “historically rare” destructive rainfall, it said. An image from the broadcaster showed roads seriously flooded. 

According to preliminary estimates, 188,800 people were affected by the natural disaster, with losses amounting to about $1.4 billion, officials announced. A large number of roads, bridges and cables were damaged. 

CCTV said the maximum daily rainfall recorded was 52.8 centimeters (nearly 21 inches), breaking the provincial record. The hardest-hit parts of the city experienced a year’s worth of rain in just half a day, and overall, it was the strongest rainfall in Huludao since meteorological records began in 1951, it said. 

The Chinese government allocated a fund of $7 million to support disaster relief efforts. 

China was in the middle of its peak flood season over the past month. Chinese policymakers have repeatedly warned that the government needs to step up disaster preparations as severe weather becomes more common. 

Landslides and flooding have killed more than 150 people around China in the past two months as torrential rainstorms battered the region. 
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Hungary’s foreign minister accuses EU of disrupting oil supplies from Russia

Posted on by SeeEU

BUDAPEST, hungary — Hungary’s foreign minister said Saturday the European Commission’s decision not to mediate in a dispute over a blockage of oil supplies from Russia via Ukraine into his country suggested that Brussels was behind the stoppage. 

Hungary and its neighbor Slovakia have been protesting since Ukraine put Russian oil producer Lukoil on a sanctions list in June, stopping that company’s oil from passing through Ukrainian territory to Slovak and Hungarian refineries. 

The assertion from Hungary’s Peter Szijjarto, which he made without providing evidence, came a day after the European Commission declined a request from Hungary and Slovakia for it to mediate between them and Ukraine over the sanctions. 

“The fact that the European Commission declared that it was unwilling to help to secure the energy supply of Hungary and Slovakia suggests that the order was sent from Brussels to Kyiv to cause challenges and problems in the energy supply of Hungary and Slovakia,” Szijjarto said at a conservative political festival. 

A European Commission spokesperson declined to comment on Szijjarto’s remarks. 

The Commission, which has been supportive of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, has repeatedly urged EU countries to end their dependency on energy supplies from Moscow. The EU has imposed sanctions on most Russian oil imports. 

On Friday, a Commission spokesperson said there were no indications that Ukraine’s sanctions had endangered European energy supplies, as Russian oil continued to flow through the separate Druzhba pipeline, which also connects Russia to Slovakia and Hungary via Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Hungarian statement Saturday. 

Slovakia and Hungary are both EU countries that have opposed Western allies’ military aid to Ukraine as it fights the invasion that Russia launched in February 2022. 

The pipeline’s southern branch runs through Ukraine to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, and has served as their refineries’ primary supply source for years. 

Last month, Szijjarto made similar comments when he accused the European Commission of blackmail in the oil dispute and said that maybe it was “Brussels, not Kyiv, that invented the whole thing.” 

A Hungarian government official said Thursday that Hungarian oil company MOL was in the final stages of discussions to establish a scheme to ensure crude oil flows from Russia. 
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Islamic State claims responsibility for knife attack in Germany

Posted on by SeeEU

SOLINGEN, Germany — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Saturday for a knife attack in the German city of Solingen that killed three people and wounded eight others.  

Police have detained a 15-year-old and were investigating whether this person was linked to the attacker. The perpetrator was still at large on Saturday.  

Describing the man who carried out the attack as a “soldier of the Islamic State,” the militant group said in a statement on its Telegram account: “He carried out the attack in revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”  

The statement did not immediately provide any evidence for its assertion, and it was not clear how close any relationship between the attacker and Islamic State was. 

Hendrik Wuest, premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, described Friday evening’s attack during a festival in the city as an act of terror.  

“This attack has struck at the heart of our country,” Wuest told reporters.

Before the IS claim, Markus Caspers, an official with the public prosecutor’s office in Duesseldorf, said authorities were treating the attack as a possible terrorist incident because there was no other known motive and the victims seemed unrelated.  

The attack took place in the Fronhof, a market square in the western German city where live bands were playing as part of a festival marking its 650th anniversary. 

A police official, Thorsten Fleiss, said the assailant appeared to aim for his victims’ throats. 

“The perpetrator must be quickly caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a post on X. 

Police cordoned off the square on Saturday and passers-by placed candles and flowers outside the barriers. 

“We are full of shock and grief,” Solingen Mayor Tim-Oliver Kurzbach told journalists. 

Authorities canceled the remainder of the weekend festival. 

Fatal stabbings and shootings are relatively rare in Germany. The government said earlier this month it wanted to toughen rules on knives that can be carried in public by reducing the maximum length allowed. 

In June, a 29-year-old policeman was fatally stabbed in Mannheim during an attack on a right-wing demonstration. A stabbing attack on a train in 2021 injured several people. 

Solingen, well known for its knife manufacturing industry, is a city of some 165,000 people.  

The episode comes ahead of three state elections next month in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg, in which the anti-immigrant far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has a chance of winning. 

Though the motive and identity of the assailant were not known, a top AfD candidate for one of the state elections, Bjoern Hoecke, seized on Friday’s attack, posting on X: “Do you really want to get used to this? Free yourselves and end this insanity of forced multiculturalism.” 
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RFK Jr. endorses Donald Trump

Posted on by SeeUS

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his endorsement of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, on Friday. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti reports from Glendale, Arizona, where the two politicians campaigned together for the first time.
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Cholera poses new risks for millions of Sudan’s displaced

Posted on by SeeAF

GENEVA — U.N. agencies are scaling up cholera prevention and treatment programs to get on top of a new, deadly cholera outbreak in Sudan that threatens to further destabilize communities suffering from hunger and the ill effects of more than 16 months of conflict.

The recent cholera outbreak has resurged after several weeks of heavy rainfall and resulting flooding,” Kristine Hambrouck, UNHCR representative in Sudan, told journalists Friday in Geneva.

Speaking on a video-link from Port Sudan, she warned, “Risks are compounded by the continuing conflict and dire humanitarian conditions, including overcrowding in camps and gathering sites for refugees and Sudanese displaced by the war, as well as limited medical supplies and health workers.”

She expressed particular concern about the spread of the deadly disease in areas hosting refugees, mainly in Kassala, Gedaref and al-Jazirah states.

“In addition to hosting refugees from other countries, these states are also sheltering thousands of displaced Sudanese who have sought safety from ongoing hostilities,” she said.

The United Nations describes Sudan as the largest displacement crisis in the world.  Latest figures put the number of people displaced inside Sudan at more than 10.7 million, with an additional 2 million who have fled to neighboring countries as refugees.

Additionally, the UNHCR says Sudan continues to host tens of thousands of refugees from countries such as Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Sudan’s health ministry officially declared a cholera outbreak on August 12. In the one month since the first suspected cases were reported, the World Health Organization says 658 cholera cases and 28 deaths have been reported by five states, “with a high case-fatality ratio of 4.3%.”

Kassala has reported the highest number of cholera cases at 473, followed by Gedaref with 110 cases, and al-Jazairah with 51 cases. Two other states, Khartoum and River Nile, have reported fewer numbers.

“These cases are not linked to the previous cholera outbreak, which had been declared in September 2023,” said Dr. Shible Sahbani, the WHO representative to Sudan, noting that the outbreak “technically ended” in May 2024 after no cases were reported for two consecutive incubation periods.

Speaking from Port Sudan, Sahbani described the situation in Kassala as very worrisome. He said the state’s health system already was under stress because of the large number of displaced people and refugees living there. “So, the health system is not able to cope with the additional influx of refugees and IDPs [internally displaced persons].”

“But in addition to that, it puts a big burden on the WASH system — the water, sanitation, and hygiene system. So, this makes the situation more complicated in favor of the spread of cholera,” he said.

Besides the dangers posed by cholera, UNICEF representative Hambrouck also warns of an increasing number of cases of waterborne diseases, including malaria and diarrhea, which also need to be brought under control.

“Constraints in humanitarian access are also impacting response efforts. Violence, insecurity and persistent rainfall are hampering the transportation of humanitarian aid,” she said.

She noted that more than 7.4 million refugees and internally displaced Sudanese living in White Nile, Darfur and Kordofan states are having to do without “critical medicines and relief supplies” because of delays in delivery.

The WHO and UNHCR are working closely with Sudan’s Ministry of Health to coordinate the cholera outbreak response. Among its many initiatives, UNHCR says it is working with health partners to strengthen surveillance, early warning systems and contact tracing in affected locations.

“Disease surveillance and testing are ongoing, and awareness-raising and training on cholera case management for health staff are also being conducted,” said Hambrouck.

For its part, Sahbani said the WHO has prepositioned cholera kits and other essential medical supplies “in high-risk states in anticipation of the risks associated with the rainy season.”

He said the WHO was spearheading a cholera vaccination campaign, noting that “a three-day oral cholera vaccination campaign in two localities of Kassala state concluded Thursday.”

He said the campaign already has used 51,000 doses and “the good news is that we got the approval of an additional 155,000 doses of cholera vaccine. So, this is the good news in the middle of this horrible crisis.”

One dose of the vaccine, he said, would protect the population against cholera for six months, while two doses would provide protection for up to three years.

“So, this is really good news because this will help us to contain the outbreak,” he said.  Without more funding, however, he warned the good news will quickly evaporate, noting that the WHO has received just one-third of its $85.6 million appeal.

“This will indeed limit our capacity to launch a robust response to reach a larger segment of the people in need,” he said.

His UNHCR colleague, Hambrouck, echoed the sentiments.

“With the humanitarian situation and funding level already precarious prior to this latest cholera outbreak, funds are desperately needed to support the provision of health care and other life-saving aid,” she said.
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