Sri Lankan police on Saturday arrested a prominent Muslim lawmaker and his brother over suspected connections to the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in 2019 that killed 269 people.Rishad Bathiudeen is a former Cabinet minister who currently leads an opposition party in Sri Lanka’s Parliament. He and his brother, Reyaj Bathiudeen, were arrested in the capital for allegedly “aiding and abetting the suicide bombers who committed the Easter Sunday carnage,” said police spokesman Ajith Rohana. He said the brothers had not yet been officially charged but were arrested based on direct evidence, as well as what he called circumstantial and “scientific” evidence.Two local Muslim groups that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group have been blamed for the six near-simultaneous blasts at two Roman Catholic churches, a Protestant church and three tourist hotels. Both Muslims and Catholics are minorities in Sri Lanka, where Buddhists make up 70% of the population.Before his arrest Saturday, Bathiudeen wrote on Facebook that police had been outside his house “since 1:30 a.m. today attempting to arrest me without a charge. … They have already arrested my brother. I have been in Parliament and have cooperated with all lawful authorities until now. This is unjust.”Rushdhie Habeeb, a lawyer representing Bathiudeen, called the arrests politically motivated and said, “No reasons for the arrest had been given at the time of their arrest by those who conducted the midnight raid.”In his statement, Habeeb said the purpose was to “punish the political leadership of the Muslims, which had nothing to do with 21/4, for the dastardly acts of some Muslim youths who were widely alleged as having been used as pawns by foreign powers.”Demands for justiceThe arrests came amid growing demands for justice by Sri Lanka’s Catholic leaders and community, including during a commemoration held Wednesday on the second anniversary of the attacks. Last month, Sri Lankan Catholics also attended Mass dressed in black and held placards in a silent “Black Sunday” protest.Most of the people connected to the groups accused of carrying out the attacks have been arrested, but Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has insisted the bombings couldn’t have been planned by the leader who committed suicide in one of the attacks.The government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who came to power later in 2019 after promising to determine the truth behind the attacks, is under pressure to find the mastermind.His government accused an Islamic cleric arrested soon after the attacks of being the organizer, but the claim has not been accepted by the Catholic Church, which suspects there was larger foreign involvement.Ranjith, the archbishop, has said a presidential commission that investigated the attacks focused on failures by those in political power at the time to prevent the bombings, instead of on finding the people who were directly responsible.A power struggle between the then-president and prime minister, which led to a communications breakdown and a resulting lapse in security coordination, is said to have enabled the attacks, which occurred despite prior foreign intelligence warnings.
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Month: April 2021
Biden Recognizes Armenian Genocide
President Joe Biden has recognized that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago was genocide. As VOA Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports, with the White House statement Saturday, Biden became the first American president to do so. VOA’s Armenian Service, VOA’s Turkish Service and Bojan Klima contributed to this report.Camera: Dilge Timocin, Aram Avetisyan.
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Malawi Rejects WHO Call to Use Expired COVID Vaccine
Malawi’s government says it will go ahead with plans to destroy thousands of expired COVID-19 vaccine doses, despite calls from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa Centre for Disease Control not to destroy them.The WHO and Africa CDC this week urged African countries not to destroy COVID-19 vaccines that may have passed their expiration dates, saying they are still safe to use. However, Malawi’s government says the appeals have come too late to prevent the destruction of thousands of doses of expired COVID vaccines.
Officials said the 16,440 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that expired April 13 have already been removed from cold storage.
Thursday, the WHO and the Africa CDC had urged African countries not to destroy the vaccine that may have expired, saying it is still usable.
“And it’s also a requirement that every vile manufactured, has an expiry date beyond which it cannot be used,” said Dr. Charles Mwansambo, Malawi’s secretary for health. “In this case, we cannot proceed to use these because the vile clearly states the expiry date. And any doctor, any physician would not be forgiven in the event of anything happening after knowingly used a vile that is clearly having labeled as having expired.”
The expired vaccine is part of the 102,000-dose donation the country received in March from the African Union.
Malawi and South Sudan earlier announced plans to destroy about 70,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine that expired last month.
Mwansambo also said using the expired vaccine would scare people from taking the jabs from the remaining stock.
“If we leave or store these expired vaccines that will be big blow to our vaccination drive people will not come. Now even though we are not using them people have been hesitant to come because they feel that we might be given the expired vaccines,” he said.
Mwansambo said the country may be considering extending the shelf life of the remaining stock of vaccine received through the COVAX facility and from the Indian government that expires in June and July.
George Jobe, the executive director for the Malawi Health Equity Network, said using the expired COVID-19 vaccine would create a negative attitude in people.
“We can have phobia from Malawians which we should not. If the [expired] vaccines are safe, the CDC can take the expired vaccines, or WHO, and donate to the developed countries. But we have to witness the day the vaccines are leaving Malawi.”
Mwansambo said destroying the expired vaccine is in line with Malawi government guidelines on expired pharmaceutical products.
He said the government will soon announce the date when it will publicly destroy the expired vaccine in Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.
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Biden Recognizes Atrocities Against Armenians as Genocide
U.S. President Joe Biden recognized Saturday the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Biden’s recognition of the mass killings fulfills a campaign promise and came on the same day that Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day was observed in Armenia and by the Armenian diaspora.
“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden said in a statement. “The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.”
During his campaign for president last year, Biden said he would “support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority.”
In a letter Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged Biden to become the first U.S. president to recognize the killings as genocide.
“The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We urge you to follow through on your commitments and speak the truth.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier this week that Biden’s recognition of the killings as genocide would harm relations between the NATO allies.
Cavusoglu said Saturday in a statement that Biden’s recognition “distorts the historical facts, will never be accepted in the conscience of the Turkish people, and will open a deep wound that undermines our mutual trust and friendship.”
“We call on the U.S. President to correct this grave mistake, which serves no purpose other than to satisfy certain political circles, and to support the efforts aiming to establish a practice of peaceful coexistence in the region, especially among the Turkish and Armenian nations, instead of serving the agenda of those circles that try to foment enmity from history,” Cavusoglu added.
Historians say an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor to modern-day Turkey — between 1915 and 1923.
Armenians say they were purposely targeted for extermination through starvation, forced labor, deportation, death marches, and outright massacres.
Turkey denies a genocide or any deliberate plan to wipe out the Armenians. It says many of the victims were casualties of the war or murdered by Russians. Turkey also says the number of Armenians killed was far fewer than the usually accepted figure of 1.5 million.
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Rocky US-Pakistan Ties Scrutinized as Foreign Troops Set to Exit Afghanistan
Officials in Pakistan appear upset over U.S. military assessments warning of a possible resurgence of terrorism in the South Asian country after the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan and calling into question Islamabad’s commitment to peace in the war-torn neighboring country.
Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, shared the assessment in his congressional testimony this week in Washington. The CENTCOM chief also highlighted long-running U.S. complaints the Taliban continue to maintain their sanctuaries on Pakistani soil and direct insurgent attacks in Afghanistan from there.
McKenzie spoke a week after President Joe Biden announced the last remaining 3,000 or so U.S. troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11 to end what he said was America’s “forever war.”
NATO allies have promised to match the action and withdraw thousands of their forces, as well. Biden’s announcement is in line with a troop withdrawal agreement the U.S. negotiated with the Taliban a year ago.
The drawdown, due to start May 1, has raised fears of intensification in the war between Afghan government forces and the Taliban insurgency in the conflict-torn nation, which shares about 2,600-kilometers of border with Pakistan, because the two adversaries have failed to reach a peace deal after months of talks.
“I think the country that’s going to be the most affected frankly is going to be Pakistan because of the possibility of unconstrained refugee flow because of the possibility of renewed terrorist attacks in Pakistan that could ramp up as a result of this,” McKenzie told lawmakers Tuesday while articulating the possible impact on neighboring countries after U.S. troops complete their Afghan exit.
In testimony Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the general noted that Islamabad was interested in a stable Afghanistan, but he cautioned it’s going to be “very difficult” for that stability to remain post-U.S. troop withdrawal.
“I think Pakistan will be very concerned by that. I would say frankly that it’s a situation they have not been terribly helpful on over the last 20 years so that’s unfortunate for them that some of this is now gone come back home in a way that they perhaps did not anticipate,” McKenzie said.FILE – Marine General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, speaks with U.S. troops while visiting Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Sept. 9, 2019.A senior Pakistani official who deals with national security matters has dismissed the U.S. charges, saying his country in the last three years has made all possible efforts to facilitate the Washington-led efforts to promote peace and reconciliation between Kabul and the Taliban.
The official, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity, urged U.S. officials to desist from “starting a new blame game” at a time when Afghans need support from all sides to find peace for their turmoil-hit nation.
“It will be extremely unfortunate to blame Pakistan for continued disagreements among Afghan stakeholders and the inability of the United States to appreciate Pakistan’s unqualified, relentless efforts for peace and stability in Afghanistan,” said the official who is not authorized to speak to the media.
Despite its long-running skepticism, Washington credits Islamabad with facilitating talks between U.S. and Taliban interlocutors that culminated in the signing of the February 2020 peace agreement between the two adversaries.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, when asked for his reaction to McKenzie’s remarks, insisted his country facilitated “in good faith” the U.S.-Taliban peace process.
“It is out of our legitimate security concerns and well wishes for the safety and security of Afghan people that we call for an orderly and responsible withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan leaving no security vacuum that could be exploited by spoilers,” Chaudhri told VOA.
“It is, therefore, important that the withdrawal coincides with the progress in the peace process.”
Chaudhri went on to underscore that Islamabad’s “historic and longstanding” relations with Washington have “always served mutual interests” of both countries.
The Biden administration has also attempted to brush aside suggestions of strains in relations with Pakistan.
“The United States looks forward to working together with Pakistan on a range of issues including addressing the climate crisis through improving access to energy, promoting efficient agricultural practices and supporting innovative climate adaptation measures all while growing our economies in sustainable ways,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.
Micheal Kugelman, deputy Asia program director at the Washington-based Wilson Center, said McKenzie’s comments “don’t portend well” for U.S.-Pakistan relations.
“He appears to acknowledge that the withdrawal will impact Pakistan’s stability deleteriously but doesn’t give any indication that the U.S. would be prepared to work with Pakistan to help reduce its risks of destabilization,” Kugelman told VOA.
Senator Mushahid Hussain, the chairman of foreign affairs committee of the upper house of the Pakistani parliament, criticized McKenzie’s remarks as “confusing” and an attempt to blame Pakistan for U.S. military failures in Afghanistan.
“The only clarity seems to be a readiness to scapegoat Pakistan, if and when things go wrong in Afghanistan, [convenient way of passing the buck!]. Accepting defeat for any army isn’t always easy, especially the American military in yet another land war in Asia. So, the easy way out: blame Pakistan!,” Hussain asserted.
Pakistan’s military bases and ground and air lines of communication played a crucial role in facilitating and sustaining the U.S.-led military invasion of landlocked Afghanistan 20 years ago.
The punitive military action was launched to oust the Taliban from power days after the deadly September 11, 2001 strikes on America that were plotted by al-Qaida leaders from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan at the time.
Pakistan has long retaken control of its bases from the U.S. military, but the country’s airspace and land routes are still being used to ferry non-lethal military supplies for international forces across the Afghan border.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his military leadership have vowed repeatedly in recent months that their country will not participate in any future U.S. military action and only play the role of a “peacemaker,” if required.
McKenzie told lawmakers during his testimony the U.S. is engaged in “a significant” diplomatic effort to determine where it would base a counterterrorism force in the region to deter terrorist groups after all American troops leave the country. However, no such understanding currently exists with any of Afghanistan’s neighbors for housing the proposed anti-terrorism forces, the general said.
“This may also be meant to signal to Pakistan that if the U.S. is to help Pakistan with its security needs, Islamabad will need to offer something in return, such as the use of Pakistani military bases to house U.S. counterterrorism forces focused on terror threats in Afghanistan that threaten the U.S. and Pakistan alike,” said Kugelman while referring to McKenzie’s criticism of Islamabad.Chaudhri called for a meaningful engagement of the international community for promoting reconstruction and economic development in the post-conflict Afghanistan for ensuring sustainable peace and stability.Pakistan still hosts around three million Afghan refugees who have fled four decades of civil war, persecution and poverty. Chaudhri called stressed the need for arranging a time-bound and well-resourced plan for repatriating the displaced population that Pakistani officials maintain has served as a hiding place for insurgents. VOA’s Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
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3 Arrested as France Investigates Paris-Area Stabbing Attack
French authorities have arrested three people in connection with the stabbing death of a police worker outside Paris Friday, as they explore possible terrorism motives of the assailant, who was killed by police.
Media report the three people detained include a father and two people who sheltered the 36-year-old Tunisian, who stabbed a police worker and mother of two Friday in the quiet town of Rambouillet, 60 kilometers from Paris.
Police shot the man dead. The police worker, who had been stabbed in the throat, died of her wounds. France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said the assailant had made comments indicating a terror motive. He shouted “Allahu Akbar” or “God is great,” in Arabic before the stabbing, according to media reports.
The incident comes after France has weathered a string of attacks, including an attack in Paris last year, a beheading of a French schoolteacher in the suburbs for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and the stabbing of three people at a church in the southern city of Nice, also by a Tunisian. This latest assailant arrived in France illegally more than a decade ago, but eventually got residency papers according to a police source who spoke to the media. He had only recently moved to Rambouillet.
French President Emmanuel Macron said the country would never give in to Islamist terrorism in a tweet he posted Friday.
Visiting the stabbing site Friday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex echoed the president, saying the government was all the more determined to fight terrorism.
French police have been targeted in several past attacks.
Francois Bercani, senior member of a local police union in the Yvellines department, where Rambouillet is located, told France-Info radio that police were understaffed. He called for beefing up their numbers and more protection for police stations, saying police were being targeted as representatives of the French state.France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said security at police stations will be stepped up. Lawmakers are also finishing work on a bill pushed by Macron’s government to fight Islamist extremism.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, however, told French TV the government’s response was insufficient. She questioned why the Rambouillet suspect had legal papers.
Government officials have in turn accused Le Pen of politicizing the issue. She is considered Macron’s top opponent in next year’s presidential vote.
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Canada Top Court Rules US-based First Nation has Cross-border Rights
Canada’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that U.S.-based descendants of the Sinixt Indigenous nation maintained ancestral land rights in Canada, a landmark decision that opens the door to other groups with similar ties to assert their rights on matters from hunting to environmental concerns.The ruling means any U.S.-based Indigenous group whose ancestors lived in Canada before first contact with Europeans could claim rights laid out in Canada’s constitution.The case was brought by Rick Desautel, a Sinixt descendant who lives in Washington state. In 2010, he shot an elk without a hunting license on traditional Sinixt lands in British Columbia, intending to force the question of whether his ancestral ties would be recognized across the border.Canada’s constitution guarantees the right of Indigenous people to hunt in their traditional lands.In 1956, Canada declared the Sinixt “extinct” because members of the nation had either died or were no longer living in the country.Rodney Cawston, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state, whose members trace their lineage back to the Sinixt in Canada, said the ruling validated what they had always known — that the Sinixt were not extinct.”What’s most important to me is that our future generations will be able to go up into Canada and receive that recognition and respect as a Canadian First Nation,” he said.The court said the Canadian government may also have to consult U.S.-based Indigenous peoples with ties to Canada when they reach out to domestic-based Indigenous groups on issues — although the court specified the onus was on U.S. groups to make the Canadian government aware of their potential claim.The ruling “will have a huge effect,” said Bruce McIvor, a Vancouver lawyer who intervened in the case on behalf of the Indigenous Bar Association.”The border is the ultimate symbol of colonization for Indigenous people,” McIvor said. It has divided families and territories, he said, adding that Friday’s ruling means their rights “can’t simply be wiped away” by an imposed border.Canada’s government is “reviewing the decision, analyzing impacts and next steps,” a spokesperson for the ministry of Indigenous Relations said.Federal prosecutors argued the Sinixt were not protected by the rights in Canada’s constitution because they no longer were present in the country.But the Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts and dismissed the federal appeal, ruling that as long as a nation could prove ties to the land from before first contact with Europeans, they did not have to consistently use that land for their rights to apply.Refusing rights to Indigenous people who were forced to leave Canada “would risk perpetuating the historical injustice suffered by Aboriginal peoples at the hands of Europeans,” the court said.Desautel said he was inspired to pursue the court claim after visiting his ancestors’ land in British Columbia, where he was told that the Sinixt people were extinct.”There’s a plaque right over there that says you’re extinct,” he said. “That’s crazy. No, I’m not.”Desautel said he felt “relieved and jubilation” at the ruling and looked forward to a family gathering later Friday to celebrate.”It’s a long time coming,” he added.
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HIV Drugs Run Short in Kenya as People say Lives at Risk
Kenyans living with HIV say their lives are in danger due to a shortage of anti-retroviral drugs donated by the United States amid a dispute between the U.S. aid agency and the Kenyan government.The delayed release of the drugs shipped to Kenya late last year is due to the government slapping a $847,902 tax on the donation, and the U.S. aid agency having “trust” issues with the graft-tainted Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, activists and officials said.Activists on Friday dismissed as “public relations” the government’s statement on Thursday that it had resolved the issue and distributed the drugs to 31 of Kenya’s 47, counties. The government said all counties within five days will have the drugs needed for 1.4 million people.”We are assuring the nation that no patient is going to miss drugs. We have adequate stocks,” Kenya Medical Supplies Authority customer service manager Geoffrey Mwagwi said as he flagged off a consignment. He said those drugs would cover two months.The U.S. is by far the largest donor for Kenya’s HIV response.Kenya’s health minister, Mutahi Kagwe, told the Senate’s health committee earlier this week that USAID had released the drug consignment that had been stuck in port. Patients are expected to receive them during the week.He said USAID had proposed using a company called Chemonics International to procure and supply the drugs to Kenyans due to “trust issues” with the national medical supplies body.Bernard Baridi, chief executive officer of Blast, a network of young people living with the disease, said the drugs would last for just a month.He said the delay in distributing the drugs, in addition to supply constraints caused by the coronavirus pandemic, meant that many people living with HIV were getting a week’s supply instead of three months.Many of those who depend on the drugs travel long distances to obtain them and may find it difficult to find transport every week, and if they fail to take them they will develop resistance, Baridi said.”Adherence to medication is going to be low because of access. … If we don’t get the medication, we are going to lose people,” he said.According to Baridi, children living with HIV are suffering the most due to the shortage of a drug known Kaletra, which comes in a syrup form that can be taken more easily. Parents are forced to look for the drug in tablet form, crush it and mix it with water, and it’s still bitter for children to ingest.Baridi urged Kenya’s government and USAID to find a solution on who should distribute the drugs quickly, for the sake of the children.On Thursday, about 200 people living with HIV in Kisumu, Kenya’s third largest city, held a peaceful protest wearing T-shirts reading “My ARV’s My Life” and carrying posters that read “A sick nation is a dead nation” and “A killer government.”Some 136,000 people live with HIV in Kisumu, or about 13% of the city’s population, said local rights activist Boniface Ogutu Akach.”We cannot keep quiet and watch this population languish just because they can’t get a medicine that is lying somewhere, and that is happening because the government wants to tax a donation,” he said.Erick Okioma, who has HIV, said the government’s attention has been diverted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected even community perception.”People fear even getting COVID than HIV,” Okioma said, asserting that local HIV testing and treatment centers were empty.
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Biden Touts Economic Benefits of Combating Climate Change
U.S. President Joe Biden joined business and union leaders Friday in touting the economic benefits of addressing global warming when he delivered remarks from the White House on the last day of a two-day virtual climate change summit.“When we invest in climate resilience and infrastructure, we create opportunities for everyone,” Biden said.Biden’s remarks at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action” came one day after he announced a new goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030.Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.”Biden climate change envoy John Kerry emphasized Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly, maintaining it would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021.Leaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam are also participating in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.The U.S. target is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach it, include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane. U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions.Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt the investment of public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington.The two-day summit is part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office. There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 16 MB720p | 32 MB1080p | 62 MBOriginal | 80 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio“Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.” World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius. Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.
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Biden Urges World Leaders to Keep Promises on Climate Following Summit
U.S. President Joe Biden praised world leaders for coming together on climate change and urged them to make good on promises as he closed a virtual climate change summit hosted from the White House.“The commitments we’ve made must become real,” Biden said Friday on the last day of the two-day summit that involved 40 world leaders.Biden pledged during the summit to cut U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030. Japan and Canada also raised climate commitments during the summit while the European Union and Britain announced stronger climate targets earlier this week.John Kerry, Biden’s climate envoy, said that more than half the world’s economy has now pledged action to stop warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a goal set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.Kerry said Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared Friday, “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 16 MB720p | 32 MB1080p | 62 MBOriginal | 80 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioLeaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam participated in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said hundreds of Israeli start-ups are working to improve battery storage for renewable energy.Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, renewed her government’s pledge to end oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.The new U.S. target for greenhouse gas pollution is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach them include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane. U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions.Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.The two-day summit was part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office.There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy.“Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.”World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius.Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.
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US, West Wary of Russian Claims That Military Buildup Near Ukraine Is Over
Claims that Russian troops are beginning to pull back from positions in Crimea and along the Russian border with Ukraine are being met with caution in the West, where officials are demanding that Moscow be more transparent and refrain from additional saber-rattling.Western officials said Friday that they were watching the situation “very, very closely” but cautioned against taking Russian assurances “at face value.””We’ve seen the Russian comments about how they’re ending the exercises,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters during a briefing Friday. “It’s too soon to tell with any specificity.””[We] continue to call on Russia to cease their provocations, to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and to not contribute to activities that only make the stability along the border with Ukraine and in occupied Crimea less stable than it already is,” he said.Refrain from aggressionU.S. diplomatic officials Friday likewise urged the Kremlin to do more to reduce tensions.”We’ve made clear in our engagement with Russia, with their government, that they need to restrain — refrain from their aggression and escalatory actions, and they need to immediately cease all of their aggressive activity in and around Ukraine,” said State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter. “And that includes their recent military buildup in occupied Crimea as well as along Ukraine’s border.”European officials said this week that more than 100,000 Russian troops had massed along the border with Ukraine in recent weeks, calling it Moscow’s “highest military deployment” to the region and warning that the “risk of further escalation is evident.”Bigger Than 2014: US Calls Out Russian Military Buildup Along Ukraine BorderThe Pentagon’s assertion that Moscow is massing more forces than it did when it invaded and annexed Crimea follows EU assessment that 150,000 Russian troops are now in the regionU.S. defense officials declined to comment on specific numbers, though the Pentagon said the Russian buildup was larger than the one it mounted in 2014 before it invaded and seized Crimea.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday that military exercises involving troops along the border with Ukraine were over and that they would return to their permanent bases by May 1.Later that day, a NATO official told VOA the alliance had taken note of the Russian announcement, adding, “Any steps towards de-escalation by Russia would be important and well overdue.””NATO remains vigilant, and we will continue to closely monitor Russia’s unjustified military buildup in and around Ukraine,” the official said. “We continue to call on Russia to respect its international commitments and withdraw all its forces from Ukrainian territory.”
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US Preparing for Taliban Attacks as Afghanistan Drawdown Gets Under Way
The United States is positioning more firepower in the Middle East and South Asia to provide cover for U.S. troops as they prepare to leave Afghanistan.The Pentagon on Friday announced that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to remain in the region for “a period of time.” Long-range bombers are also headed to the region, and two U.S. Air Force B-52s are already in place.”We want to make this a safe, orderly and deliberate drawdown,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters. “That means giving the commander on the ground … options to make sure that our forces and our troops and those of our allies are protected as they move out.”U.S. President Joe Biden announced last week that he was pulling the approximately 2,500 to 3,500 U.S. troops out of Afghanistan beginning May 1, and that the withdrawal would be completed by early September.U.S. allies, who have another 7,000 or so troops in Afghanistan under the auspices of NATO, are also leaving, along with thousands of contractors, under the same timeline.Taliban threatsDespite the planned pullout, Taliban officials have repeatedly threatened to target U.S. and coalition forces if they fail to leave Afghanistan by the start of May — the deadline under an agreement signed between the Taliban and the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.”It would be foolhardy and imprudent not to assume that there could be resistance and opposition to the drawdown by the Taliban given their staunch rhetoric,” Kirby told reporters about the threats, leaving open the possibility that additional steps could be coming.”It’s entirely possible there will be a temporary increase of some ground forces and enablers, not just for force protection but also for logistical and engineering support.”During a briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan, General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie Jr., raised concerns about the ability of Afghan forces to hold off the Taliban once U.S. troops leave. But he also warned the insurgent group against going after U.S. or coalition forces in the interim.”I believe it is probably the Taliban’s intent to conduct military operations,” McKenzie said, adding that they have “never stopped fighting.””I would advise the Taliban we will be prepared to defend ourselves,” he said.US General Warns Afghan Forces Facing Possible FailureThe commander of US forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan tells lawmakers that Afghan forces may not be able to ‘hold on’ against the Taliban without help from US, NATO troops on the groundThe U.S. is also finalizing plans to remove equipment and supplies from Afghanistan, much of which will be flown out of the country.But the Defense Department said not all of it would be coming home.”Some of it will be inspected, cleaned and deployed elsewhere in the region. Some of it will be provided to our Afghan partners, if it makes sense,” the Pentagon’s Kirby told reporters. “And some of it will be destroyed.”
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Deby’s Death Seen as Blow to Counterterrorism Efforts in Africa’s Sahel
The death of Chad’s President Idriss Deby could be a major setback for counterterrorism efforts in Africa’s restive Sahel region, according to Chadian activists, African politicians and security experts.The 68-year-old longtime leader died Monday from injuries sustained while visiting troops fighting a Libya-based rebel group known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, or FACT. The group had advanced the previous week from the north toward the capital, N’Djamena.Following Deby’s death, generals set up a military council to run the country and named Deby’s son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, 37, as interim president.Local observers said the political turmoil could lead to more serious challenges in the Central African nation.”The country has many security challenges to face right now,” said Delphine Djiraibe, a human rights lawyer and the founder of the Public Interest Law Center, who is based in N’Djamena.”In the fight against terrorism, President Deby was a close ally to France and other foreign powers, so his death will definitely create a vacuum,” she told VOA in a phone interview. “Despite his dictatorial rule, his effectiveness in the campaign against terror in the region was the main factor why these countries supported him.”Deby had ruled Chad since coming to power in a military coup in 1990. In recent years, he and his military had become a major actor in counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, where Boko Haram and other Islamist extremist groups have been active in several countries.”He managed to keep our country largely secure from terror threats while also helping other countries in their struggle against terrorists,” said Kaltuoma Makaila, 41, a resident of N’Djamena.”With Deby gone, I’m not sure how our security situation will be, but we will definitely go through a period of uncertainty,” she told VOA.FILE – Soldiers of the Mauritania army wait in an armed vehicle at a G5 Sahel task force outpost in the southeast of Mauritania, along the border with Mali, Nov. 22, 2018.Regional stabilityThe repercussions of Deby’s death could also be felt in other countries in the region, some politicians said.Deby was “somebody who contributed greatly to regional stability. … I think his passing will be a source of instability in the subregion,” said Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet, a former president of the National Transitional Council of the Central African Republic.Chad’s military has played a significant role in the 5,000-strong force of the G5 Sahel, which includes Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. The G5 force cooperates with French troops, who have been present in the region since the outbreak of an insurgency in Mali in 2012.”It is a hard blow for Chad, Mali and for the Sahel in its entirety, because he recently sent 1,200 Chadian troops to reinforce security” in the border zone between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, said a resident of Mali’s capital, Bamako, who declined to be identified.In neighboring Niger, a local resident said that Deby’s death “will have unavoidable consequences in the subregion.””A man who supported us is gone,” he told VOA. “What should we do in order to replace the efforts he has done against terrorism?”‘Worrying moment’The FACT rebel group said it rejected the transitional military council that will take charge of Chad for the next 18 months. This means, experts said, the rebel threat in the country remains real.”This is a really worrying moment, because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Daniel Eizenga, a research fellow at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington.He said the regime crafted by the slain president was “highly authoritarian, very autocratic, and so all political power was consolidated under Deby and his ruling party.””When you have these moments where there is political instability, everything is kind of up in the air,” Eizenga told VOA. “It is that instability that is inherent to authoritarianism that is really problematic, and now we’re in a situation where Chad may not be able to be a crucial partner because everything in Chad could collapse.”FILE – Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, 37, the son of the late Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno, is seen during a military broadcast announcing the death of his father on state television, April 20, 2021.Son’s roleA four-star general, Deby’s son has led multiple military operations against Islamist insurgents, including one in 2013, when Chadian soldiers deployed to northern Mali to help support the French Operation Serval.”He’s held very high positions within the defense intelligence world for Chad, and that suggests that he has connections to the broader diplomatic and defense corps that would be based in N’Djamena,” Eizenga said.France’s anti-terror Operation Barkhane and the regional Multinational Joint Task Force are headquartered in Chad.”I think that the fact that he’s kind of emerged as the lead for the transitional military council suggests that there’s an effort by some, at least in N’Djamena, to try and maintain some continuity and to stem whatever instability that may have otherwise erupted in the wake of Deby’s death,” Eizenga added.VOA French Service’s Freeman Sipila in Bangui, Central African Republic, Abdoul-Razak Idrissa in Niamey, Niger, and Mohamed Dagnoko in Bamako, Mali, contributed to this report.
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UN Delivers Humanitarian Aid to Separatist-controlled Parts of Ukraine
U.N. agencies have delivered 23 tons of hygiene items to civilians in the rebel-controlled part of eastern Ukraine, the United Nations said Friday.This was the second time this month that a U.N.-organized humanitarian convoy had been allowed to cross the 500-kilometer contact line, which separates Ukrainian government forces from the Russian-backed rebels. The first delivery on April 15 consisted of 18 tons of COVID-19 supplies.Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the one crossing point in the divided country had been closed since February 24 because of security concerns.“The reopening is welcome, as needs remain very high with nearly 1.7 million people in need of assistance in the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk,” Laerke said. “The elderly, people with disabilities, female-headed households and children are among the most vulnerable.”Humanitarian access to the separatist area has been extremely difficult since March. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted movement across the contact line. That has limited the ability of people in the east to go to the government side of the demarcation line to pick up their pensions and social welfare benefits.Laerke said restrictions on humanitarian access to the region had created great hardships for people suffering economic and health distress because of COVID-19, which is getting significantly worse.The World Health Organization said COVID-19 infections in Ukraine have risen to more than 2 million cases, including 41,700 deaths.“In March, Ukraine experienced a tripling of the number of COVID-19 cases nationwide, compared with February,” Laerke said. “So, the curve is going up and not down. … Of course, as there has been a long period of no deliveries, there is, if you like, a pent-up demand for relief. So we very much hope that this can continue and increase.”Laerke said humanitarian access to the Donetsk oblast was not the only requirement. He said money also was needed to provide lifesaving support to the nearly 1.7 million people. Unfortunately, he added, the U.N. is very short of cash as it has received only 13 percent of its $168 million appeal for Ukraine this year.
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Biden Touts Economic Benefits of Combatting Climate Change
U.S. President Joe Biden joined business and union leaders Friday in touting the economic benefits of addressing global warming when he delivered remarks from the White House on the last day of a two-day virtual climate change summit.“When we invest in climate resilience and infrastructure, we create opportunities for everyone,” Biden said. Biden’s remarks at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action” came one day after he announced a new goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030.Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.” Biden climate change envoy John Kerry emphasized Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly, maintaining it would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021.Leaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam are also participating in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.The U.S. target is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach it, include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane. U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions. Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt the investment of public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington.The two-day summit is part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office. There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy. “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.” World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius. Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.
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French Police Administrator Killed in Knife attack
Police officials in Rambouillet, France, say a man attacked and killed a police administrator Friday with a knife outside a police station in the southwest suburb of Paris.
The officials say at least one police officer at the scene opened fire on the assailant – identified as a 36-year-old Tunisian national living in France – and fatally shot him. The French news agency reports the man had no criminal record and was unknown to police.
Authorities say the victim was a 49-year-old female police administrator, who was returning to work after her lunch break, when she was attacked and stabbed in the throat. Witnesses say the attacker shouted “Allah Akbar” – “God is great” – as he stabbed her.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex, along with other officials, was at the scene of the crime in Rambouillet, an upscale suburb about 60 kilometers southwest of Paris in France’s Yvelines department ((region)). Castex, and France’s antiterror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard, who also was at the scene, said the incident would be investigated as a terrorist attack.
On his Twitter account, French President Emmanuel Macron said the nation is at the side of the slain police administrator, her family, colleagues and the police. “In the fight against Islamist terrorism, we will not give up.”
The attack comes six months after another knife attack in the region when an Islamist teenager beheaded a schoolteacher in Conflans, another town outside Paris.
France has suffered a wave of attacks by Islamist militants or Islamist-inspired individuals in recent years that have killed about 250 people.
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