Month: October 2018

Russian Investigative Journalists Take on Intimidation, Threats

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Recent allegations that an oligarch with close personal ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin is behind several attacks and at least one killing has compelled some journalists and free speech advocates to take a stand against intimidation tactics in Russia.

An October 22 Novaya Gazeta article by reporter Denis Korotkov, who just days prior to publication received a funeral wreath bearing an anonymous threat at his private residence and a severed goat’s head in a basket outside his newsroom, says billionaire businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has directed clandestine hits on multiple continents.

Prigozhin, who is known as “Putin’s Chef” for catering presidential events and sometimes personally waiting on important guests, has been indicted by American investigators for allegedly trying to interfere with the 2016 U.S. election.

In the investigative report about Prigozhin, headlined “The Chef Likes It Spicy,” Valery Alemchenko, a former convict who worked for Prigozhin, details physical attacks on Prigozhin’s opponents, as well as the killing of an opposition blogger in northwest Russia, all at the mogul’s behest.

Alemchenko also says several Prigozhin employees traveled to Syria last year to test an unknown poison on Syrians who refused to fight for President Bashar al-Assad’s government, an allegation Novaya Gazeta corroborated with two other sources.

Alemchenko disappeared shortly after meeting with the reporter and is now on a Russian police list of missing persons.

Danger of inaction

For Novaya Gazeta contributor Boris Vishnevsky, the latest threats and disappearances have taught him one thing: the greatest threat to his own colleagues and sources is their own inaction.

“I believe that the information published by Novaya Gazeta cannot remain only within the circle of its readers,” Vishnevsky told VOA’s Russian Service, explaining why he has called upon Russia’s prosecutor general and federal legislators to conduct an investigation of the latest allegations surrounding Prigozhin, and the threats against those who reported them.

“These are very serious suspicions of involvement in crimes, including the murders of people who, to put it mildly, are connected to Mr. Prigozhin and his structures,” said Vishnevsky, who is also a deputy in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. “This evidence should be checked, and I think there is enough – names are named, quotes are quoted. And to leave it unheeded seems to me quite impossible.”

Vishnevsky’s appeal coincided with a statement by the Union of Journalists of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, who expressed concerns about the threats directed at Korotkov.

Asked whether Russian investigators would actively probe any of Putin’s closest associates, Vishnevsky said that’s beside the point.

“I’m not inclined to have big illusions about its results, especially about the conclusions that will be made,” he said. “Nevertheless, I want to see official explanations from the prosecutor general’s office and the investigative committee on the reports of crimes contained in Denis Korotkov’s article.

“I understand that everything will be done to, in simple terms, cover up for Mr. Prigozhin,” he added. “But if a verification is not demanded, then you cannot expect anything at all.”

Because Article 144 of the Russian Criminal Code says crimes reported in the media require the consideration of federal prosecutors and investigators, Vishnevsky said he expects that some sort of investigation will be carried out.

‘Second wave’ of investigative reporting

Roman Zakharov of the Glasnost Defense Foundation, a non-governmental organization that advocates press freedom, said the threats against Korotkov are extremely serious, and that they come amid a “second wave” of hard-hitting investigative journalism occurring in Russia.

“The first surge of this genre was during the years of democratic development of Russia, but then it seemed to us to be something taken for granted,” Zakharov told VOA. “And now there is a second wave of investigations, and they are being conducted by many young journalists who write about economic crimes, about corruption, about the Mafia’s links with politicians.”

With a surge in investigative reporting, he said, comes a surge in threats to reporters and editors behind the stories.

“Of course editors try to protect [their reporters], but, as we see from practice, the powers of the editors themselves are limited,” he said, referring to the assassinations of Russian reporters stretching over decades. “But all joking aside, it’s impossible to oppose the Mafia, much less the state steamroller.”

As widely reported in Western media, some of Prigozhin’s privately owned enterprises, such as the Concord catering company, were used to bankroll disinformation campaigns designed to interfere with U.S. elections. Earlier this month, U.S. officials brought charges against Prigozhin employee Elena Khusyaynova for helping oversee the finances of the St. Petersburg-based “Internet Research Agency,” the so-called troll farm that aimed to influence American voters through social media postings.

Activities of Prigozhin’s private security-contracting firm, Wagner – a mercenary outfit that has conducted operations in Ukraine, Syria, the Central African Republic and Sudan – are well documented.

‘Don’t touch journalists’

Another member of Prigozhin’s security detail, Oleg Simonov, who is suspected of attacking the husband of an opposition activist and injecting him with poison, died last year under murky circumstances.

“Behind it all – written messages, funeral wreaths and a severed sheep’s head – as we know from past investigations, these are people who will stop at nothing and shrink from nothing,” Zakharov said, emphasizing that they “aren’t even averse to murdering their own associates.”

“There is the need to gather the entire journalistic community and citizens and say ‘No, Mr. Prigozhin! Don’t touch journalists, don’t threaten them,'” Zakharov said. “If you do not agree with the publications, sue them in court. Act by legal means, even if the Kremlin and the authorities are on your side.

“We hope that due to these public disclosures, there will be none of the excesses that have occurred with some other journalists,” Zakharov added, referring to “assault and battery … and also murders.”

Russia is currently ranked 148 out of 180 countries profiled in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index by international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

This story originated in VOA’s Russian Service. Some information for this report was provided by AP.

 
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Nigerian Crackdown on Shi’ite Group Sparks Fears of Escalation

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Nigerian police fired shots and tear gas at thousands of supporters of an imprisoned Shi’ite cleric in Abuja on Tuesday, just a day after three people were killed in similar clashes that sparked warnings to the government that a heavy-handed crackdown could radicalize the group.

At least six Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) supporters have now been killed since Saturday during protests calling for the release of Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been in custody since December 2015.

Several thousand IMN members were marching peacefully in central Abuja but then armed police fired into the crowd to disperse the procession, said AFP reporters at the scene.

At least six injured IMN members were taken away in cars while the area was patrolled by dozens of police, they added.

“A lot of our people had been injured, so far we don’t have any record of death,” IMN spokesman Ibrahim Musa told AFP.

Nigeria’s military said three IMN supporters were killed during another protest on the outskirts of Abuja on Monday.

The army said troops and police “repelled the attack” and that IMN “fired weapons” and threw stones and Molotov cocktails.

AFP photographs of the aftermath showed several bodies of civilians on the ground near police but it was unclear whether they were dead or injured.

On Saturday, three other IMN members were killed during protests in Abuja.

The army claimed the protesters attacked a military convoy and tried to steal weapons and ammunition — an account the IMN “categorically” denies.

IMN spokesman Musa claimed 27 people have been killed since Saturday and that the death toll could be higher since “scores” of people were injured and troops took away others.

“We are working towards their release to us for burial,” Musa said.

Long-running opposition

Human rights group Amnesty International said on Monday that reports that troops fired live bullets at protesters were “very disturbing” and would be unlawful if they were unarmed.

The IMN has staged a series of demonstrations demanding the release of leader Zakzaky, who has been detained since bloody clashes broke out in the northern city of Zaria in 2015.

Then, the military was accused of killing more than 300 IMN supporters and burying them in mass graves.

Zakzaky has been at loggerheads with Nigeria’s secular authorities for years because of his calls for an Iranian-style Islamic revolution. Northern Nigeria is majority Sunni Muslim.

The cleric, who is in his mid-sixties and lost the sight in one eye during the 2015 clashes, has been seen in public only twice since he was detained.

Nigeria’s government has previously ignored a court order to release Zakzaky and his wife.

In April, at least 115 IMN supporters were arrested during protests in Abuja during which police used tear gas and water cannon.

IMN processions for the annual Ashura festival have frequently been flashpoints. In November 2016, at least 10 people were killed when police opened fire near the northern city of Kano.

Radicalization warning

Sustained clashes and the military’s use of deadly force have raised fears of a repeat of the 2009 crackdown on the Islamist group Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria.

Then, some 800 people, including Boko Haram leader Mohammed Yusuf, were killed in the Borno state capital Maiduguri, forcing the group underground.

They then re-emerged a more deadly force under Yusuf’s deputy, Abubakar Shekau. The insurgency since then has killed more than 27,000 people and displaced more than two million others.

Amaechi Nwokolo, a security analyst at the Roman Institute for International Studies in Abuja, said: “It appears we are not learning from our past mistakes.”

He said the security forces had “no right to use that maximum force” on unarmed protesters, warning that it might “motivate others to radicalize”.

“If we go back to the formative days of Boko Haram, it was the killing of some innocent people that actually galvanized recruitment. That’s how terrorism works.”

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler, was elected in 2015 on a promise to defeat Boko Haram and bring greater security.

But although weakened, Boko Haram has persisted in its attacks. In addition, there has been a resurgence of violence in the long-running resources conflict between sedentary farmers and nomadic herders.

 

 

 
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Bangladesh, Myanmar Agree to Repatriate Rohingya

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Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to repatriate Rohingya refugees back to the country they fled, in the midst of a U.N warning that genocide was still being committed against them.

Myanmar Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Win Myat Aye told VOA Burmese that the date to begin the repatriation is tentatively set for November 15. He also added that more than 5,000 refugees have been verified for return.

Over 720,000 of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority fled Rakhine State in August of last year after Rohingya militant attacks inspired a military crackdown from the government. Refugees and journalists have reported widespread killings, rape and the burning of villages.

This is not the first attempt the governments have made to repatriate the Rohingyas, whose presence in Bangladesh has gone from welcomed to controversial as they strain the impoverished country’s resources. A similar attempt almost a year ago failed after hitting insurmountable logistical roadblocks.

“We can’t stress enough that returns cannot be rushed or premature,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said of the announcement, “and the decision on whether or not for a refugee to return should be determined by refugees themselves, when they feel the time and circumstances right.”

Last week, the chair of the U.N. fact finding mission in Myanmar warned that thousands of Rohingyas were still fleeing to Bangladesh, and that those who remained “continue to suffer the most severe” limitations and repression.

Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding last month agreeing to meet certain conditions before beginning repatriation, including guaranteed security and a pathway to citizenship. The Rohingya have been technically stateless since a 1982 law stripped them of their citizenship.

It is not clear where the Rohingyas would be relocated to, as most of their villages have been burned. The government has built new housing in Rakhine State since, but human rights groups have expressed concern that these could become guarded prisons.

Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
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Russia’s Only Aircraft Carrier Damaged After Crane Falls on It

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Russia’s only aircraft carrier was damaged while undergoing repairs in the north of the country after the floating dock holding it sank in the early hours of Tuesday and a crane crashed onto its deck, tearing a gash up to 5 meters wide.

The Admiral Kuznetsov has seen action in Russia’s military campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad with its planes carrying out airstrikes against rebel forces.

It was being overhauled on one of the world’s biggest floating docks in the icy waters of the Kola Bay near Murmansk close to where Russia’s Northern Fleet is based and was due to go back into service in 2021.

Maria Kovtun, Murmansk’s governor, said in a statement that a rescue operation had been launched and 71 people evacuated after the floating dock holding the ship had begun to sink.

The warship had been successfully extracted from the dock before it completely sank, she said.

Investigators, who said they had opened a criminal investigation into the incident that would look at whether safety rules had been violated, said one person was missing and four others were being treated for hypothermia after being plucked out of the water.

Alexei Rakhmanov, head of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation, told the TASS news agency that the ship’s hull and deck had been damaged, although what he called the vessel’s vitally important parts had not been harmed.

“There is a jagged hole 4-5 meters wide,” Rakhmanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

“It’s obvious that when a 70-ton crane falls onto the deck, it’s possible that there could be such damage. We consider the damage to be insignificant.”

Yevgeny Gladyshev, a spokesman for the shipbuilding factory which operated the floating dock, told the RIA news agency that unspecified equipment had been damaged but that much of the deck had been spared because it had been removed during the refit.

The floating dock had been hit by a power outage which had caused its ballast tanks to fill up rapidly, prompting it to sink, the factory said.

The Admiral Kuznetsov gained notoriety in Britain when then Secretary of Defense Michael Fallon dubbed it the “ship of shame” in 2017 when it passed through waters close to the English coast on its way back from the Mediterranean belching black smoke.

 
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Australia’s Ex-PM Warns Jerusalem Move Would Worry Indonesia

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A former Australian prime minister has warned the government to expect a negative reaction from Indonesia if Australia follows the United States by shifting its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke to reporters after meeting Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on the tourist island of Bali on Monday to discuss a bilateral free trade deal.

 

“The president expressed to me… the very serious concern held in Indonesia about the prospect of the Australian Embassy in Israel being moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corp. in an interview aired on Tuesday. “There’s no question that were that move to occur, it would be met with a very negative reaction in Indonesia.”

 

“This is after all the largest… majority-Muslim country in the world, so we have to be very clear-eyed about that and we have to take into account Australia’s national interest and our interests in the region when we… consider decisions like this,” he added.

 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday no decision had been made yet on the embassy’s location.

 

Morrison sent his predecessor to represent Australia at a climate change conference in Bali because of Turnbull’s close personal rapport with the Indonesian leader, who had been disappointed that Turnbull’s government colleagues replaced him in August in response to poor opinion polling.

 

Turnbull said he was confident that the free trade deal between Australia, a nation of 25 million people, and Indonesia, a near-neighbor with a population of more than 260 million people, would be signed within weeks.

 

Turnbull also said Australia should stick with a policy of more than 40 years that its embassy should be in Tel Aviv.

Morrison, a long-time ally of Turnbull who had argued against replacing him in a leadership ballot of government lawmakers, floated the idea of shifting the embassy days before a by-election in a Sydney electorate with a large Jewish population.

 

The government lost the by-election, forced by Turnbull’s resignation from Parliament, and its single-seat majority in the House of Representatives.

 

“Australia will always make our decisions on our foreign policy based on our interests and we’ll do that as a sovereign nation,” Morrison told reporters.

 

We’ll consult, we’ll listen to others, but at the end of the day… I will always put our interests first,” he added.

 

The Trump administration turned its back on decades of U.S. policy last December by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and in May, it moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv. The decision angered the Muslim world and was a setback for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. Palestinians see east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, as the capital of a future independent state.

 

Morrison said Australia remained committed to finding a two-state solution.

 

When Morrison became prime minister, he made his first overseas trip to Indonesia, an ardent supporter of the Palestinian cause, in a sign of the importance Australia places on the bilateral relationship.

 

 
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Conservationists Alarmed as China Eases Ban on Tiger, Rhino Parts

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China unveiled new rules on Monday that would allow the use of rhino horn and tiger parts for some medical and cultural purposes, watering down a decades-old ban in a move conservation group WWF said could have “devastating consequences.”

China’s State Council issued a notice replacing its 1993 ban on the trade of tiger bones and rhino horn. The new rules ban the sale, use, import and export of such products, but allow exceptions under “special circumstances,” such as medical and scientific research, educational use, and as part of “cultural exchanges.”

Horns of rhinos or bones of tigers that were bred in captivity could be used “for medical research or clinical treatment of critical illnesses,” it said.

Rhino horn and tiger products classified as “antiques” could be used in “cultural exchanges” with the approval of culture authorities, although they still may not be sold on the market or exchanged via the internet.

The new rules came into effect Oct. 6.

WWF said in a statement that Beijing’s move would have “devastating consequences globally” and be “an enormous setback to efforts to protect tigers and rhinos in the wild.”

“Even if restricted to antiques and use in hospitals, this trade would increase confusion by consumers and law enforcers as to which products are and are not legal, and would likely expand the markets for other tiger and rhino products,” WWF said.

Beijing banned trade in tiger bones and rhino horns, both prized in traditional Chinese medicine, 25 years ago as part of global efforts to halt declining animal stocks. But illegal poaching has continued, driven by demand in an increasingly affluent country.

Commercial tiger farms in China are legal, and although using tiger bones in medicine was banned, tiger parts from these farms often end up being made into tonics or other medicines, animal rights groups say.

Conservation groups say Chinese traditional medicine recipes can make use of substitutes for products from wild animals. Some Chinese officials have in the past said full bans on the use of wild animal parts would threaten traditional Chinese medicine.
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US Restricts Exports to Chinese Semiconductor Firm Fujian Jinhua

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Opening a new front in its trade and technology disputes with China, the Trump administration on Monday took action to cut off a Chinese state-backed semiconductor maker from U.S. exports of components, software and technology goods.

The Commerce Department said it has put Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co Ltd on a list of entities that cannot purchase such products from U.S. firms, citing a “significant risk” that the Chinese firm’s new memory chip capacity will threaten the viability of American suppliers of such chips for military systems.

It said in a statement that Fujian Jinhua “poses a significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national interests of the United States.”

The action is similar to a Commerce Department move that nearly put Chinese telecommunications equipment company ZTE out of business earlier this year by cutting it off from U.S. suppliers.

ZTE, which had violated a deal to settle violations of sanctions on Iran and North Korea, was allowed to resume purchases of U.S. products after a revised settlement and payment of a $1 billion fine.

The action against Fujian Jinhua is likely to ignite new tensions between Beijing and Washington since the company is at the heart of the “Made in China 2025” program to develop new high-technology industries.

The world’s top two economies are already waging a major tariff war over their trade disputes, with U.S. duties in place on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and Chinese duties on $110 billion of U.S. goods.

Fujian Jinhua, which is starting up a new $5.7 billion chip factory in Fujian province, is linked to the Trump administration’s accusations that China has systematically stolen and forced the transfer of American technology.

Fujian Jinhua and Taiwanese partner United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) were accused last December by U.S. memory chip maker Micron Technology Inc of stealing Micron chip designs through poached employees, a case still under way in a California court.

UMC countersued in a Chinese court, accusing Micron of infringing its patents, leading to a temporary ban in July on sales of Micron’s main products in China.

It was not immediately clear what effect the Commerce Department action will have on Fujian Jinhua’s operations.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement that the Chinese firm’s new plant likely was the beneficiary of “U.S.-origin technology” and its additional production would threaten the long-term viability of U.S. chipmakers.

“When a foreign company engages in activity contrary to our national security interests, we will take strong action to protect our national security,” he said. “Placing Jinhua on the Entity List will limit its ability to threaten the supply chain for essential components in our military systems.”
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UN Human Rights Expert Urges States to Curb Intolerance Online

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Following the shooting deaths of 11 worshippers at a synagogue in the eastern United States, a U.N. human rights expert urged governments on Monday to do more to curb racist and anti-Semitic intolerance, especially online.

“That event should be a catalyst for urgent action against hate crimes, but also a reminder to fight harder against the current climate of intolerance that has made racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic attitudes and beliefs more acceptable,” U.N. Special Rapporteur Tendayi Achiume said of Saturday’s attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Achiume, whose mandate is the elimination of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, noted in her annual report that “Jews remain especially vulnerable to anti-Semitic attacks online.”

She said that Nazi and neo-Nazi groups exploit the internet to spread and incite hate because it is “largely unregulated, decentralized, cheap” and anonymous.

Achiume, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, said neo-Nazi groups are increasingly relying on the internet and social media platforms to recruit new members.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are among their favorites.

On Facebook, for example, hate groups connect with sympathetic supporters and use the platform to recruit new members, organize events and raise money for their activities. YouTube, which has over 1.5 billion viewers each month, is another critical communications tool for propaganda videos and even neo-Nazi music videos. On Twitter, according to one 2012 study cited in the special rapporteur’s report, the presence of white nationalist movements on that platform has increased by more than 600 percent.

The special rapporteur noted that while digital technology has become an integral and positive part of most people’s lives, “these developments have also aided the spread of hateful movements.”

She said in the past year, platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have banned individual users who have contributed to hate movements or threatened violence, but ensuring the removal of racist content online remains difficult.

Some hate groups try to get around raising red flags by using racially coded messaging, which makes it harder for social media platforms to recognize their hate speech and shut down their presence.

Achiume cited as an example the use of a cartoon character “Pepe the Frog,” which was appropriated by members of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups and was widely displayed during a white supremacist rally in the southern U.S. city of Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.

The special rapporteur welcomed actions in several states to counter intolerance online, but cautioned it must not be used as a pretext for censorship and other abuses. She also urged governments to work with the private sector — specifically technology companies — to fight such prejudices in the digital space.
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Report: Pompeo to Meet with N. Korean Counterpart Next Week

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South Korea’s Yonhap news agency says U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is likely to meet with his North Korean counterpart in the United States next week.

The news agency reports that the two sides are trying to arrange a meeting shortly after the U.S. midterm elections on Nov. 6.

Pompeo told VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren in an interview on Oct. 19 that he hoped the meeting would take place “in the next week and a half or so.”

Yonhap reported Monday that a South Korean diplomatic source with knowledge of U.S.-North Korea negotiations said, “At the time of Secretary Pompeo’s remarks, [the meeting] was being planned for the end of October, but I understand that it was delayed by a couple days due to circumstances on the U.S. side.”

“The location will probably be the U.S. East Coast,” the source said.

Pompeo has met during previous talks with Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee. However, the Nikkei Asian Review is reporting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong could also join the talks. Kim Yo Jong is said to have a close relationship with her brother.

The meeting between Pompeo and the North Korean delegation is expected to focus on continuing discussions about North Korea denuclearization, as well as another potential summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader.

Pompeo told VOA this month that a date for that summit has not yet been set, but said Trump is “committed” to it. “We’re working on finding dates and times and places that will work for each of the two leaders,” he said.

Earlier this month, the United States and South Korea suspended another major military exercise in a continued push for diplomacy.

The two countries have suspended several military exercises since an unprecedented June summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore, where Trump announced the U.S. would stop what he called “provocative” and “expensive” “war games” with South Korea.

He said the move was as an act of good faith and in response to North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization, and its continued suspension of nuclear and missile tests.
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Film Raises Funds for Isolated Hospital in Sudanese War Zone

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With the unrelenting violence in places such as South Sudan and Somalia, the world seems to have overlooked the people of Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, where for several years President Omar al-Bashir waged war against his own people.

A few years ago on a near-daily basis, Russian-made Antonov planes bombed unarmed civilians, injuring and killing them, as well as burning small, thatched-roof houses and crops that would have fed the Nuba people in this remote region.

Most of the medical staff of international aid agencies left the mountain region, but one doctor stayed.

Dr. Tom Catena, who came from upstate New York, is a surgeon, pediatrician and an obstetrician-gynecologist at Mother of Mercy Hospital, which is the only major hospital in the Nuba Mountains for hundreds of kilometers.  He first trained in Kenya before landing in Sudan’s South Kordofan state.

Catena does what he can to save the lives of hundreds of men, women and children caught up in the battle between President Bashir and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, rebel fighters who fought alongside South Sudanese secessionists.

Catena’s story is being told to the world by a close friend from Brown University, filmmaker Ken Carlson.

“I found out that he was in great need in the Nuba Mountains five-six years ago, in need of aid.  We raised $102K ($102,000), put a truckload together of vaccines and supplies and I realized it was a great story to tell,” Carlson told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus.

That visit eventually resulted in a documentary, The Heart of Nuba, which Carlson has been showing around the United States and abroad to raise money for Mother of Mercy Hospital.  To date, the screenings have pulled in $500,000, according to Carlson.

From engineer to humanitarian

Catena graduated from Brown in 1986 with a degree in mechanical engineering, and despite high-paying job offers in his field, he felt a different calling.

“I turn to my brother Felix and I’m like, ‘Felix, I should go to medical school.’  He’s like, ‘Tom, what are you talking about?  You’re an engineer.  What are you talking about?’  And I said, ‘No, I think I should do it,'” Catena said in the film.

Carlson said he was drawn to find out why Catena was so committed to the people of the Nuba Mountains, so he flew to the region for several weeks in 2014 and again in 2015 to film Catena in action for his documentary.

The documentary captures Catena, who awakens each day at 5:50 a.m. without an alarm, marches to the chapel where he says a rosary, drinks tea, then walks straight to the hospital for another long day.  In one scene, Catena tends to a man who has just had his nose blown off by shrapnel.

Carlson said of Catena, “He’s furious!  These families are being destroyed for no reason.”

The documentary was shown Oct. 20 at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., for a screening that drew dozens of donors, activists and Diaspora.  

Nathaniel Nyoke, a lost boy from South Sudan who ran barefoot for five days to escape the fighting in Bor more than 20 years ago, says one part of the film gave him chills.

“Seeing the kids running from the Antonovs and then jumping in one hole to hide.  That’s what I used to do,” Nyoke told South Sudan in Focus.

Sudanese nurse Nasima Catena, who is married to Tom Catena, described what it’s like to be in the operating room when you come under attack.

“No one comes out, but people always run to the foxhole with patients who are able to go, who are able to run,” Catena said.

In January, President Bashir signed a four-month cease-fire with the SPLM-North rebels, but rebel ground attacks continue in the area.  The International Criminal Court charged Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2009 and 2010, but he has eluded arrest.

Carlson said The Heart of Nuba has more screenings coming up in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and several U.S. universities, including Princeton, Columbia and Duke.
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Sweden Closer to Election As Lofven Drops Bid to Form Government

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The leader of Sweden’s Social Democrats, Stefan Lofven, on Monday abandoned efforts to form a government, extending a political deadlock that has gripped the country since an inconclusive national election seven weeks ago.

The failed attempt brought the prospect of a snap election closer, though the speaker of parliament said he would try to avoid that at all costs.

The Sept. 9 vote gave the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats hold the balance of power, but neither Lofven’s center-left bloc nor the center-right group of parties has been willing to give them a say in policy due to their white supremacist roots.

“In light of the responses I have had so far … the possibility does not exist for me to build a government that can be accepted by parliament,” Lofven told reporters.

The center-right Alliance bloc’s leader, Ulf Kristersson, has already tried and failed to form a government.

Speaker Andreas Norlen, who on Monday held talks with all the party leaders, said he would not, at least for now, ask anyone else to try to form a government.

Instead, he would on Tuesday take on a more active role in trying to mediate a way to forming a viable coalition. He would propose a prime minister to parliament at least once during the autumn, in order if possible to avoid another election.

“A snap election would be a big defeat for the Swedish political system,” he told reporters.

A caretaker administration under Lofven has run Sweden since last month’s ballot.

The delay in forming a permanent government could further undermine faith in mainstream parties. Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said a new vote could boost support for his party.

Both Lofven and Kristersson said they still hope to be prime minister, but neither offered a way to end the stalemate.

“I do not see any indication that anyone has changed their minds about anything at all,” Kristersson told reporters after meeting speaker Norlen.
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Belarusians Commemorate Victims of Mass Execution Under Stalin

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Belarusians gathered in Minsk on Monday to commemorate more than 100 people, including 22 writers and poets, who were executed by the NKVD secret service on Oct. 29, 1937, during Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge.

The 100 victims, many of them from the Belarusian intelligentsia, were among between 600,000 and 1.5 million people in then-Soviet Belarus who were swept up in Stalin’s mass repression of dissent that came to a head in 1937.

At one memorial event Monday, about 20 people lit candles next to the Minsk headquarters of the KGB security service, the present-day successor to the NKVD.

In a separate memorial event, several dozen gathered at an execution site used by the NKVD in a wooded area on the Belrusian capital’s outskirts that is now marked by dozens of wooden crosses.

Belarusians read poems as they stood near the crosses decorated with burning candles.

Similar memorial events were being held in other parts of the former Soviet Union to mark an unofficial day of remembrance for victims of Stalinist repression.
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Russia Sends Officials to Venezuela to Advise on Crisis Reforms

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Russia has sent a high-level official delegation to Venezuela, including a deputy finance minister, to help advise the cash-strapped country on economic reform at a time of crisis, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Finance said Monday.

Almost 2 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015, driven out by food and medicine shortages and violent crime with inflation running at 200,000 percent and the OPEC nation’s oil production hitting a 28-year low in 2017.

Russian oil major Rosneft said in August Venezuela owed it $3.6 billion, while Moscow and Caracas last year signed a debt restructuring deal that allowed Venezuela to pay Russia back a total of $3.15 billion over a decade.

Andrei Lavrov, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, said Monday that Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak was due to take part in a meeting with Venezuelan government officials in Caracas on Tuesday.

Russian officials from the central bank and the Ministry of Economy would also attend, he said, saying Venezuela had invited the Russian experts to take part in a meeting tasked with drafting economic reform measures at a time of crisis.

“Venezuela’s government asked [Russia] to send relevant employees from Russian government ministries to share their experience of economic reform,” Lavrov said.
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Zimbabwe President Asks Business Leaders to Address Shortages

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Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa met with business leaders Monday in an effort to assure the public his government can stabilize the sinking economy. But as one business leader explains, uncertainty about the cash supply and the currency in use makes it hard for the economy to function.

Addressing business executives at the State House, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said his government was “working day and night to stabilize the economy.”

Zimbabweans are dealing with an acute shortage of most essentials, including fuel, medical drugs, cooking oil, and clean drinking water. Prices have been rising, though not at the same rate as in 2008, when the official annual inflation rate reached 231 million percent.

Mnangagwa asked businesses to fix the shortages by bringing more products to market.

“I am advised that some manufacturers have been holding back products from retailers. This, if true, is regrettable,” he said. “The fear to lose wealth and savings as happened during the 2008 economic meltdown is currently unnecessary. I greatly appreciate and understand all your concerns and anxieties.”

The president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, Sifelani Jabangwe, told VOA if any companies are holding back goods, it is because they know getting resupplied will be impossible.

“The reality is the rates are moving and there is no [foreign] currency coming,” he said. “The manufacturer or wholesaler knows that the stock they are holding is the last, if they sell that and lose out they are finished and we have lost that company. So if there is anyone holding any product it is probably because they are waiting to understand what direction [the rate of exchange is going], but I do not think there are many companies that are doing that. A lot of companies have actually run out of materials.”

The heart of the issue is a lack of useable cash. Since Zimbabwe abandoned its own dollar in 2009, the country has mostly used U.S. dollars, the British pound and South African rand to conduct transactions.

But in recent years all three currencies have been hard to find, paralyzing the economy and forcing the country to rely on bondnotes, a currency the government began printing two years ago to ease cash shortages.

Monday, President Mnangagwa said the “multi-currency system of exchange is here to stay.” He said people’s bank balances are safe and there is no reason for people to spend or move their savings.

But the value of the bondnote is unquestionably falling. The government insists its currency trades on par with the U.S. dollar. On the black market however, a dollar is now worth close to four bondnotes.

 

 
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Interfaith Vigils Honor Victims of Pittsburgh Synagogue Attack

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Thousands of people gathered Sunday in Pittsburgh for a memorial service where religious and civic leaders came together with a message of resiliency, tolerance and unity following an attack at a synagogue that killed 11 people.

The suspected gunman, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, is due to go before a federal judge Monday. He is facing 29 federal charges, including some federal hate crimes, and could face the death penalty if convicted.

The Anti-Defamation League, which has tracked hatred and violence against Jews since the 1970s, says Saturday’s massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue was the worst attack against the Jewish community in U.S. history.

Rabbis were joined by leaders from other faiths at the University of Pittsburgh for the memorial service Sunday where Rabbi Jonathan Perlman declared, “What happened yesterday will not break us, it will not ruin us.”

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto called the attack “the darkest hour of our city’s history,” but said the people there are resilient.

​”We will work together as one. We will defeat hate with love. We will be a city of compassion, welcoming to all people no matter what your religion, or where your family came from on this earth, or your status,” Peduto said.

Rabbi Jeffrey Myers declared words of hate unwelcome in Pittsburgh and called on political leaders to set an example.

“It starts with everyone in this room. And I want to address for a moment some of our political leaders who were here. Ladies and gentlemen, it has to start with you as our leaders,” Myers said. “Stop the words of hate. My mother always taught me: if you don’t have anything nice to say, say nothing. If it comes from you, Americans will listen.”

Interfaith vigils took place in many other places across the United States and in Canada on Sunday. A number of National Football League games held moments of silence before kickoff.

The Vancouver Canucks professional hockey team also paused before their game with the Pittsburgh Penguins in Vancouver to remember the dead.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris was darkened Sunday night. 

President Donald Trump ordered flags on U.S. government buildings to be flown at half-staff for three days to honor the victims.

He called the move “a mark of solemn respect for the victims of the terrible act of violence.”

Documents outlining the allegations against him say Bowers was armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and three handguns. He said that he wanted all Jews to die because he believed Jews “were committing genocide to his people.” That apparently refers to his belief that a Jewish refugee agency is helping foreign nationals enter the U.S. and that it endangers non-Jews in America.

In a message he apparently posted online just minutes before the attack, Bowers said the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t wait while my people are getting slaughtered…I’m going in.” 

Officials said the victims included eight men and three women ranging in age from 54 to 97 years old. Six people were wounded, including four police officers, before Bowers was found barricaded inside the synagogue, shot, and arrested. He is recovering from his wounds. 

The FBI said Bowers was not previously known to law enforcement, but apparently had posted a string of anti-Semitic threats online, particularly on the Gab.com website, where conspiracy theories are common.

Gab, which bills itself as the “free speech” alternative to Twitter and Facebook, has become a popular place to post content unwelcome or prohibited on other platforms. Gab responded with a statement Sunday:

“We refuse to be defined by the media’s narratives about Gab and our community,” it said. “Gab’s mission is very simple: to defend free expression and individual liberty online for all people.

On top of Bowers’ page, one quote said, “Jews are the children of Satan,” according to screenshots of the now-suspended account released by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist views.

World leaders denounced the attack, deploring it as an affront to humanity.

Trump told a political rally late Saturday, “This evil, anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us. We must stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters to defeat anti-Semitism and vanquish the forces of hate.”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama said, “We grieve for the Americans murdered in Pittsburgh. All of us have to fight the rise of anti-Semitism and hateful rhetoric against those who look, love, or pray differently. And we have to stop making it so easy for those who want to harm the innocent to get their hands on a gun.”

Pope Francis at the Vatican called the massacre an “inhuman act of violence.” He prayed “to help us to extinguish the flames of hatred that develop in our societies.” 

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “It is hard to overstate the horror of the murder of Jews who congregate on the Sabbath and who were murdered only because they were Jews. On my behalf, on behalf of the government of Israel and the nation of Israel I convey our heartfelt condolences to the families that have lost dear ones. We all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the assault an act of “blind anti-Semitic hatred,” while United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a united world effort “to roll back the forces of racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of racism.”
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