Pictures of Khatera Ahmadi were shared across the world when the Taliban ordered female journalists to cover their faces on air. The former TOLOnews journalist has since fled to Pakistan over fears for her family’s safety. Muska Safi has the story, narrated by Roshan Noorzai.
…
Month: September 2022
King Charles, Siblings Stand Vigil as Mourners Line Grows
King Charles and his siblings stood vigil by the coffin of their late mother Queen Elizabeth II on Friday as tens of thousands of mourners queuing to pay their final respects as she lies in state were told they faced a wait of up to 24 hours.
Charles, Princess Anne, Princes Andrew and Edward, attired in military uniforms, stood in silence with their heads bowed for the 15-minute vigil at the historic Westminster Hall where the coffin of the late monarch has been lying since Wednesday.
Most of the other members of the British royal family, including some of the queen’s great-grandchildren, watched from a gallery.
Tens of thousands of people of all ages and from all walks of life have filed past the coffin in a constant, solemn stream to pay tribute to the queen, who died in Scotland on September 8 at age 96 after a 70-year reign.
Despite the warning of how long it would take to reach the building, mourners continued to join a well-organized line that stretched along the south bank of the Thames, then over the river to Parliament’s Westminster Hall, knowing their wait would last through the night when temperatures were forecast to be cold.
“We have been overwhelmed by the tide of emotion that has engulfed us and the sheer number of people who have gone out of their way to express their own love, admiration and respect to such a very special and unique person,” Prince Edward, the queen’s youngest son, said in a statement.
Rosie Beddows, 57, from Sussex, had queued with her husband and son, and happened to pass by the coffin when it was being guarded by the royal family.
“It was absolutely amazing, so moving, so beautiful. It was an incredibly long day, but we saw the king,” she said, sounding elated. “I can’t believe it. I think he’s going to be a brilliant king.”
Despite the warning of lengthy queues, repeated across local rail stations, people had flooded into Southwark Park to join the line, many in high spirits. In contrast, those who emerged from Westminster Hall were quiet, reflective and a little stiff.
Among their number was former England soccer captain David Beckham, who looked tearful as he waited to file past the coffin, having queued for more than 13 hours on his own, snacking on crisps, sweets and doughnuts.
“We were all here celebrating her majesty today and it didn’t matter how long we were there,” said Beckham. “We were there for a reason. And everyone was together. It was a special few hours.”
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, in London for the funeral, was another of those who visited Westminster Hall on Friday, stopping to curtsy as she filed past the coffin.
More than 750,000 people in total are expected to file past the coffin ahead of the state funeral on Monday, which presidents, prime ministers, royalty and other world leaders are due to attend.
U.S. President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and the leaders of Australia, Canada and Jamaica will join the emperor of Japan among the congregation.
London’s police force said the funeral would be the biggest security operation it has ever undertaken.
Visit to Wales
Charles, who acceded to the throne on his mother’s death, earlier visited Wales on Friday, the last stage of a tour of the United Kingdom to acknowledge his status as the new monarch and head of state and to greet the public.
Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort, attended a service at Cardiff’s Llandaff Cathedral, then talked with cheering well-wishers outside.
Wales has a particular significance for the new king, who for five decades preceding last week’s accession had the title Prince of Wales.
There were a few anti-monarchy protesters outside Cardiff Castle, where Charles met Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford.
Similar small protests have been held outside parliament in London and in Edinburgh over the past days, although Charles has enjoyed a surge in support since he succeeded Elizabeth.
Defender of faiths
Later, the new king returned to London to meet faith leaders at Buckingham Palace, where he said he was determined to be “sovereign of all communities.”
As monarch and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Charles holds the title “Defender of the Faith,” but he said he his saw his role as stretching beyond his own strong Christian beliefs, and that he had a duty to protect diversity.
“By my most profound convictions, therefore – as well as by my position as sovereign – I hold myself bound to respect those who follow other spiritual paths, as well as those who seek to live their lives in accordance with secular ideals,” he told the faith leaders.
“I am determined, as king, to preserve and promote those principles across all communities, and for all beliefs, with all my heart.”
Following the vigil of the queen’s children on Friday, her eight grandchildren, including the new Prince of Wales, William, and his brother Prince Harry will stand vigil at the coffin on Saturday evening.
In an adjustment to protocol, both Harry and his uncle Prince Andrew have been allowed to wear military uniforms when they take their turns, royal officials said.
Both are war veterans, but so far only “working royals” have appeared in uniform while Andrew and Harry have appeared in processions in morning suits after they lost their honorary military titles when they stepped back from public royal duties.
…
Afghan Insurgent Leader Calls for New Anti-Taliban ‘Political’ Front
Afghan insurgent group leader Ahmad Massoud on Friday urged the diaspora to unite to find a political solution to end Taliban rule, describing his appeal as the beginning of a new phase.
Massoud, who heads the National Resistance Front (NRF), an armed group waging an insurgency in Afghanistan’s northern Panjshir Valley, said it was time to try to bring the Taliban back to the negotiating table.
“We want to unify the diaspora … and slowly expand the dialogue and reach to the point where we have a road map for the future of Afghanistan,” he told a conference in Vienna.
“We are in the very beginning of a new phase,” he said.
The Vienna conference brought together some 30 Taliban opponents, mostly living in exile.
Many groups recently formed outside Afghanistan were not happy with the current state of affairs inside the country, Massoud said, adding it was time to overcome differences and “heal the wounds.”
The Taliban’s takeover after U.S.-led forces withdrew last year has set back women’s rights and created fertile ground for terrorist groups, he said.
Massoud is the son of legendary anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud.
The elder Massoud, known as the Lion of Panjshir, was assassinated in 2001 by al-Qaida, two days before the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
His son has since picked up the mantle against Taliban forces, repeatedly denouncing the Islamist regime as illegitimate.
NRF forces announced an offensive against the Taliban in May, and fighting has flared up again this month.
“Our aim has never been to strengthen the war but to end the war,” Massoud said, calling for international support at a time where global attention is focused on Ukraine.
On Tuesday the Taliban said their forces had killed at least 40 NRF fighters.
A day later, the Islamist group said it was looking into a video circulating on social media that the NRF says shows some of its fighters being executed.
“This is unacceptable, and this is against all international laws,” Massoud said.
…
Nepal’s Online Video License a Threat to Free Expression, Media Say
With 90% of the population online, misinformation can spread fast in Nepal. But efforts by the government to regulate the digital sphere are raising flags with media and legal analysts.
Earlier this year, Nepal’s government passed amendments to the National Broadcasting Regulation to regulate online videos. The change means that any medium or person wanting to post a video online must first purchase a license for 500,000 rupees ($3,900).
The push for change came after a rise in complaints filed over sensationalist YouTube videos deemed to be tarnishing the image of public figures and officials.
The new ruling will make communicating online — both for journalists and online users — prohibitively expensive, says media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. The minimum monthly wage for a journalist in Nepal, which has set limits for professions, is 25,000 rupees ($313).
Nepal’s media community has also questioned why the National Broadcasting Act, which handles frequencies, is being used to regulate online content.
The Federation of Nepali Journalists, which opposed to the amendment, says it also goes against rights guaranteed by the 2015 constitution, including “complete press freedom.”
The government is trying to control the media through regulations, which have been condemned by journalists in Nepal, Roshan Puri, general secretary of the federation, told VOA.
“Due to the protest and subsequent discussion with the government, the bill has been withheld and has not been implemented,” he said.
Binod Dhungel, an independent journalist and correspondent for RSF in Nepal, says if the plan is implemented it could carry serious implications for news organizations.
“If implemented strictly, it will have a severe impact on freedom of expression, freelancers and [the] public,” Dhungel told VOA.
The journalist said several cases of sensational content posted online, particularly on YouTube, led to the change.
The posts did not originate with the media, but Dhungel believes the videos “pushed the government to make amendments in the existing law.”
Sometimes, in the name of managing “sensational content,” authorities infringe on fundamental rights, which is not acceptable, he said.
Tanka Dhakal, a journalist for the Kathmandu-based digital outlet DeshSanchar, told VOA that fees for the simple act of starting an internet video channel amount to a covert kind of censorship that will affect Nepal’s media, independent journalists and the public.
“For me, this new decree (regulation) is a weapon to silence the independent voice. It will ban independent journalists and creators from forming their views for a larger audience. If I want to start something new and fresh, that is not possible for me under the new law,” Dhakal said.
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in Nepal did not respond to VOA’s request for comment.
Nepal is in a relatively new era of democracy after the end of a 240-year-old monarchy in 2008. Residents of the Himalayan nation have access to a range of media outlets. RSF research cites 4,800 periodicals, 880 radio stations, 160 TV networks, and over 3,100 websites.
The media watchdog also noted that the government owns a large stake in the media environment although “its dominance is challenged by innovative news sites.”
The landlocked country, with a population of 29 million, is very active online.
As of January 2022, the country had more than 27.7 million broadband internet users — more than 90 percent of the total population — data from the Nepal Telecommunications Authority shows. When it comes to social media, 13.7 million people actively use the platforms, according to the internet statistics company DataReportal.
In a country actively accessing news and information online, the government should consider other options, journalists say.
“Rather than charging the fees, there are other means to regulate sensational videos by identifying the miscreants and taking legal action against (them) if found guilty,” said Dhungel.
Tanka Aryal, an attorney and founder of the nonprofit Digital Rights Nepal, noted that the proposed amendments fall under the National Broadcasting Regulation but, he said, posting video on social media doesn’t come under the purview of broadcasting as it doesn’t use the public frequency or fulfill the requirement of public broadcasting.
The amendment is vague in terms of terminology and scope, Aryal told VOA.
Aryal, whose nonprofit promotes the protection of rights on and offline, warned of a spillover effect if the law is implemented. Many freelancers and individuals could see limits on freedom of expression if they cannot comply with the regulations, he said.
With the risk of mis and dis-information ahead of elections scheduled for November, the government has considered a number of laws that Digital Rights Nepal says could also limit rights.
Aryal cited other proposed bills including those focused on public service broadcasting, information technology, and the Media Council— that he says have provisions that could affect or be used to control media or freedom of expression.
…
Botswana to Cull More Than 10,000 Cattle to Fight Disease Outbreak
Botswana has announced it will cull more than 10,000 cattle in the country’s northeast in a bid to fight an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. One of Africa’s largest beef producers, Botswana was forced in August to halt beef exports over the virus, including to the lucrative European Union.
Assistant Minister for Agriculture Molebatsi Molebatsi said the decision to kill affected livestock was taken following consultations with disease control experts.
“The decision to depopulate is the one we have taken,” Molebatsi said. “We took the decision after consultation with experts. We don’t want any traces of the virus to remain or to have any further viral circulation.”
Molebatsi said 19,000 cattle are in the affected zone, which is near the Zimbabwe border, and more than 10,000 will be slaughtered. Some goats and sheep will also be culled.
Veterinarian Mbatshi Mazwinduma said culling means farmers must be compensated.
“It comes at a great cost because it means people have to be compensated,” Mazwinduma said. “And there is also environmental issues of animals that have been slaughtered … on how do you dispose of them safely.”
Mazwinduma said in disease control, there should be certain considerations, particularly for the affected farmers.
“When you are trying to control the disease, you have to consider the economic, social and often political impact. Politically speaking, remember at times you are going to be slaughtering animals that belong to farmers, and you might push them further into abject poverty,” Mazwinduma said. “Most of the time, the compensation of animals that are slaughtered is nowhere near the equivalent value if they were to sell them at the market.”
Bose Sethupa, a farmer from the affected region, said while the livelihoods of many people will be affected, the government has to contain the disease.
“It is a good move to try and contain the spread of the disease, but at the same time, it is not too good to the farmers because the government compensation is lower than the value of what the farmer will be having,” Sethupa said. “But apart from that … the move is good. It is truly meant to protect the export market, which is very key to our economy.”
Roughly half of Botswana’s beef exports — or about 9,000 tons — are sent to the EU each year.
your ad hereQueen’s Death Prompts Commonwealth Nations to Question Monarchy Ties
The death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II last week has sparked renewed debate in many Commonwealth countries, most of them former British colonies, about their future ties to the monarchy.
Britain wasn’t alone in proclaiming a new king upon the death of Elizabeth. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Jamaica are among 14 other nations where King Charles III is the new head of state. Echoing the ceremonies in London, proclamation ceremonies were held in several capitals, from Nassau in the Bahamas to Suva in Fiji.
Fifty-six countries are members of the Commonwealth, an association of mostly former British colonies. In 2018, the organization agreed to appoint Charles as its head upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II, prompting anger among some members, especially in the Caribbean.
“The death of Queen Elizabeth absolutely will mark a turning point,” said Sonjah Stanley Niaah of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, in an interview with VOA on Wednesday.
“Many countries have really been considering their own role, their own place in the commonwealth. And I think that now that Queen Elizabeth has passed, there is going to be certainly more of a move to disassociate themselves from the commonwealth,” Niaah said.
Republicanism
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, an avowed republican who was elected in May, wants a referendum on removing the British monarch as head of state in the next parliament.
“It’s not appropriate now … to talk about constitutional change. What is appropriate right now is to commemorate the life of service of Queen Elizabeth II,” Albanese told reporters this week.
Antigua and Barbuda, as well as St. Lucia, both in the Caribbean, have expressed similar plans. For the first time, the government of the Bahamas this week said such a referendum was possible.
“The only challenge with us moving to a republic is that I can’t, as much as I would wish to do so, I can’t do it without you all to consent. I would have to have a referendum and hear what the people have to say to me … it is our people who will have to decide,” Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said September 9.
A poll taken in August, before the queen’s death, showed that 56% of Jamaicans are in favor of removing the British monarch as head of state.
In November last year, the Caribbean Island of Barbados became a republic, severing ties with the British monarchy. Guy Hewitt, a former high commissioner to the U.K., told VOA he did not believe the Barbadian people disliked the monarchy.
“I make the point that Barbados’ journey to a republic was not a rejection of the queen or of monarchy, but more so an affirmation of a right toward self-determination,” Hewitt said.
New members
This year Togo and Gabon, both former French colonies in Africa, joined the Commonwealth – evidence the organization is not in decline, Hewitt said.
“What we have seen is in the post-independence era, rather than the commonwealth getting smaller, it’s actually getting bigger. Charles, as the new head of the commonwealth, worked closely with his mother as the Prince of Wales, traveled extensively around the commonwealth in his own right, championing causes like sustainable development and environmental protection,” Hewitt said.
“It has started to feel somewhat antiquated, and it may be that King Charles is able to inject – as his mother did – some dynamism some new direction and a new sense of purpose for the Commonwealth of nations,” Hewitt added.
Slavery
Intrinsic to the debate is the legacy of colonial rule. Britain and other European nations enslaved millions of Africans until the 19th century, forcing them to work on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas. Critics argue the monarchy’s wealth is partly based on profits from the slave trade.
“This commonwealth of nations, that wealth belongs to England. That wealth is something we never shared in. So, for us in Jamaica, the monarchy is a harsh reminder of our unfortunate past,” Bert Samuels of the Reparation Council of Jamaica told Associated Press.
The monarchy has expressed sorrow over colonial abuses, but Britain has not formally apologized. Visiting Jamaica earlier this year, Prince William addressed the issue at a gala dinner hosted by Jamaican governor-general. “Slavery was abhorrent, and it should never have happened,” William told the audience.
Reparations
That does not go far enough, said Sonjah Stanley Niaah of the University of the West Indies. “An apology is necessary. We must see remorse and we must see a time when reparations become important in the ways in which we move forward as former colonies.”
“There is a critical mass of us in in the former colonies who are aware that a relationship in terms of the Commonwealth means very little to the real day-to-day conditions of persons who dwell in these countries. And so, I think that there is more awareness about reparatory justice, there is more awareness about the role that that slavery still plays in today’s society,” Niaah told VOA.
That apology should come from the British government, Hewitt said.
“Yes, there is a need for those colonial powers to take responsibility for what they have done. But in the case of the head of the Commonwealth or the king of the United Kingdom and its other realms, that is not their constitutional responsibility.”
“The discussion around reparations is not one that I think can be taken to the doorstep of Buckingham Palace. It is one that has to be taken to Downing Street,” Hewitt said.
Some of the information in this report came from Reuters and Associated Press.
…
Survey Shows Over Half of South Africa’s Graduates Considering Emigration
A survey in South Africa shows more than half of graduates are considering moving to another country because of few opportunities at home. Business Unity South Africa, which represents the private sector, says they are seeing the lowest levels of confidence in the country’s future since World War II.
The survey was conducted by the Social Research Foundation which calls itself a start-up think tank. Its director Frans Cronje dismissed social media criticism, which said it is funded by the main opposition Democratic Alliance Party.
Cronje says they are privately funded and not affiliated with any organization. He says his pollsters surveyed just over 3,000 people.
“On the question of emigration, what it identifies is that roughly a quarter of adult South Africans are considering emigration and that figure rises pretty steeply as you go to the top echelons of the skills base,” he said. “So, university graduates figure comes in at around 50 percent and also top earners.”
Cronje says the emigration figures are in line with other public opinion research the foundation has recently conducted.
“And this is all very consistent with broader public opinion based on South Africa, which shows that in response to tough economic circumstances and an increasingly troubling outlook towards the political future of the country, levels of concern about the long-term future have hit rates that I haven’t seen in 20 years of doing this stuff.”
Joshua Jacobs has been looking for a job since graduating from college last year. He is considering emigrating to Vietnam or South Korea to teach English, even though it is not what he studied.
“It’s quite dire at the moment. It doesn’t look like there’s an opportunity,” said Jacobs. ”I have a few friends who have already gone over and, based on what they are experiencing, it seems like way more viable than being here.”
Jacobs says he studied for three years and graduated with a degree in human resources management last year.
“I’ve been looking more or less in my field, but no luck there,” he said. “It is a weird position that I’m in. Because when I started studying, the market was a bit better in terms of HR, whereas now it doesn’t seem like there’s the same opportunities. The ones that there are, the pay has decreased and the experience needed has now increased.”
Bonang Mohale, president of Business Unity South Africa, says he thinks it’s regrettable when a country cannot hold onto the future workers in whom it’s invested so much.
He asks, what will happen if graduates leave in droves?
“The economy is already on its knees. It will further exacerbate the condition.”
The Social Research Foundation is planning follow-up research.
…
UN Provides $100 Million to Aid People in ‘Forgotten Emergencies’
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, is releasing $100 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to assist millions of people in what it calls “forgotten emergencies.”
OCHA reports money for 11 humanitarian operations in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East has dried up, putting the lives and livelihoods of millions of people at risk.
The United Nations says it needs $49.5 billion this year to assist 204 million people threatened by conflict, climate shocks, hunger and forced displacement.
To date, only $17.6 billion of this total amount has been received. While this is a large amount of money, OCHA deputy spokesman Jens Laerke said the funding gap is nearly $32 billion, the largest it has ever been.
He said the release of $100 million is meant to shrink this critical funding gap and address the problem head on.
“It may seem like a drop in the bucket and if you look at it from that perspective, it is a drop in the bucket,” he said. “But, the CERF funds, a key criterion is it has to go to lifesaving projects. So, it is the worst of the worst that we are trying to address with the CERF funding. And I guarantee you, for those whose lives are hanging by a thread, it means something.”
Laerke said the consequences for hundreds of millions of vulnerable people will be many and very severe, if money to assist them at this time of greatest need is not forthcoming.
“That can range from loss of life to victims of or survivors of gender-based violence who receive no support,” he said. “Children who do not get the vaccines that they need and so on and so forth.”
Laerke said the $100 million will help scale up lifesaving operations in the 11 countries, which include Yemen, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Venezuela.
He noted that CERF has allocated a record $250 million dollars so far this year to countries that are in a desperate state, but largely overlooked.
…
Pelosi to Visit Armenia as Cease-Fire With Azerbaijan Holds
The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said Friday she plans to make a weekend visit to Armenia, where a cease-fire held for a second day after an outburst of fighting with neighboring Azerbaijan that killed more than 200 troops from both sides.
Pelosi told reporters in Berlin she would travel to Armenia on Saturday with a delegation that includes Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who is of Armenian descent. Pelosi declined to give further details about the trip, saying that traveling members of the Congress “don’t like to be a target.”
“In any case, it is all about human rights and respecting the dignity and worth of every person,” she said.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said the situation on the border with Azerbaijan has remained quiet since the cease-fire took effect at 8 p.m. Wednesday, and no violations were reported.
The cease-fire declaration followed two days of heavy fighting that marked the largest outbreak of hostilities in nearly two years.
Speaking in parliament Friday, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that at least 135 Armenian troops were killed in the fighting, revising his earlier statement that 105 died in combat. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said Friday it had lost 77.
Edvard Asryan, the chief of the General Staff of the Armenian armed forces, said at a briefing for foreign ambassadors in Yerevan that the Azerbaijani forces had forged 7.5 kilometers into Armenian territory near the town of Jermuk, a spa resort in southern Armenia.
Asryan said that the Azerbaijani troops also went 1-2 kilometers into Armenian territory near the village of Nerkin Hand in the Syunik province and the village of Shorja in the Gegharkunik province.
He noted that the Azerbaijani forces have remained in those areas.
The ex-Soviet countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.
During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories held by Armenian forces. More than 6,700 people died in the fighting, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace agreement. Moscow deployed about 2,000 troops to the region to serve as peacekeepers under the deal.
Pashinyan said his government has asked Russia for military support amid the latest fighting under a friendship treaty, and also requested assistance from the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization. The security grouping of ex-Soviet nations responded by deploying a team of top officials to Armenia.
Pashinyan called Russian President Vladimir Putin when the hostilities erupted, and they had another call Friday to discuss the situation.
Yerevan’s plea for help has put the Kremlin in a precarious position as it has sought to maintain close relations with Armenia, which hosts a Russian military base, and also develop warm ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan.
Putin on Friday is scheduled to meet with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Uzbekistan city of Samarkand. The Russian leader is also set to have talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country has strongly backed Azerbaijan.
Speaking at the summit, Aliyev accused Armenia of “a large-scale military provocation” that derailed efforts to negotiate a peace treaty. “The Armenian provocation has dealt a heavy blow to the process of normalizing ties between our countries,” Aliyev said.
Pashinyan told lawmakers earlier this week that Armenia is ready to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity in a future peace treaty, provided that it relinquishes control of areas in Armenia its forces have seized.
The opposition saw the statement as a sign of Pashinyan’s readiness to submit to Azerbaijani demands and recognize Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Thousands of angry protesters besieged the government’s headquarters and the country’s parliament during the past two days, accusing Pashinyan of treason. Protests were also held in other Armenian cities.
…
China’s Xi Says ‘Color Revolutions’ Must Be Prevented
China’s Xi Jinping said Friday the world had entered a new period of turbulence and that partners such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Central Asian leaders should prevent foreign powers from instigating “color revolutions.”
Xi, on his first trip outside China since early 2020, told a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the ancient Uzbek Silk Road city of Samarkand that they should support each other to deter foreign meddling.
“The world has entered a new period of turbulent change, we must grasp the trend of the times, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and promote the construction of a closer community of destiny with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Xi said.
“We should support each other’s efforts to safeguard security and development interests, prevent external forces from staging color revolutions, and jointly oppose interference in the internal affairs of other countries under any pretext.”
Xi criticized “zero-sum games and bloc politics,” a veiled reference to the United States, which Beijing has criticized in the past for leaning on allies to counter China’s spectacular rise to the status of a superpower in waiting.
Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since 1999, has repeatedly said the United States is plotting so-called “color revolutions” similar to those that swept established elites from power in places such as Ukraine.
The United States denies such claims and says they show the paranoid nature of Putin’s Russia.
The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine’s “Maidan” Revolution and Russia-annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed forces fighting Ukraine’s armed forces.
China’s stability-obsessed Communist Party, which is next month likely to give Xi a third leadership term and cement his place as the country’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, has in the past warned against so called “color revolutions.”
Putin and Xi
Xi and Putin last met face-to-face at the opening of the Winter Olympics, when they declared a “no limits” partnership, backing each other over standoffs on Ukraine and Taiwan with a promise to collaborate more against the West.
At a meeting on Thursday, Putin said he understood that Xi had questions and concerns about the situation in Ukraine but praised China’s leader for what he said was a “balanced” position on the conflict.
But there was no sign from Xi that his support for Putin was weakening. Xi did not mention the war in Ukraine.
Xi did stay away from a dinner attended by 11 heads of states in line with his delegation’s COVID-19 policy, a source in the Uzbek government told Reuters on Friday.
Putin, who has yet to comment in public on a lightning rout of his forces in northeastern Ukraine, said emerging world powers would not accept the West’s attempt to impose its rules on them from outside.
“Fundamental transformations have been outlined in world politics and the economy, and they are irreversible,” Putin said.
Shanghai sports?
Putin touted the SCO, a security body including Russia, China, India, Pakistan and four former Soviet Central Asian republics, as encompassing half the world’s population and a quarter of global gross domestic product.
For Iran, which is due to be admitted, the SCO is a potential anti-U.S. club: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the body needed to come up with ways to thwart “draconian” U.S. sanctions.
Leaders spoke on an eclectic mix of topics.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on leaders to address the supply chain crisis while Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke at length about devastating floods and climate change.
As the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan listened to Putin and Xi, a deadly border dispute swiftly escalated toward war before a cease-fire was finally agreed upon.
Putin even suggested the group should consider staging its own major sporting competition.
His ally Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko suggested dates that would coincide with those of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.
…
Griner, Whelan Families to Meet With Biden Amid US-Russia Talks
President Joe Biden plans to meet at the White House on Friday with family members of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, both of whom remain jailed in Russia, the White House announced Thursday.
“He wanted to let them know that they remain front of mind and that his team is working on this every day, on making sure that Brittney and Paul return home safely,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Thursday’s press briefing at the White House.
The separate meetings are to be the first in-person encounter between Biden and the families and are taking place amid sustained but so far unsuccessful efforts by the administration to secure the Americans’ release. The administration said in July that it had made a “substantial proposal” to get them home, but despite plans for the White House meetings, there is no sign a breakthrough is imminent.
“While I would love to say that the purpose of this meeting is to inform the families that the Russians have accepted our offer and we are bringing their loved ones home — that is not what we’re seeing in these negotiations at this time,” Jean-Pierre said.
She added: “The Russians should accept our offer. The Russians should accept our offer today.”
Griner has been held in Russia since February on drug-related charges. She was sentenced last month to nine years in prison after pleading guilty and has appealed the punishment. Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage-related charges that he and his family say are false. The U.S. government regards both as wrongfully detained, placing their cases with the office of its top hostage negotiator.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the unusual step of announcing two months ago that the administration had made a substantial proposal to Russia. Since then, U.S officials have continued to press that offer in hopes of getting serious negotiations underway, and have been following up through the same channel that produced an April prisoner swap that brought Marine veteran Trevor Reed home from Russia, said a senior administration official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in advance of Thursday’s formal announcement.
The negotiations, already strained because of tense relations between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have also been complicated by Russia’s apparent resistance to the proposal the Americans put on the table.
The Russians, who have indicated that they are open to negotiations but have chided the Americans to conduct them in private, have come back with suggestions that are not within the administration’s ability to deliver, said the administration official, declining to elaborate.
The administration has not provided specifics about its proposal, but a person familiar with the matter previously confirmed it had offered to release Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms dealer who is imprisoned in the U.S. and who has long been sought by Moscow. It is also possible that, in the interests of symmetry, Russia might insist on having two of its citizens released from prison.
Biden spoke by phone in July with Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and with Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, but both families have also requested in-person meetings. On Friday, Biden plans to speak at the White House with Cherelle Griner and with the player’s agent in one meeting and with Elizabeth Whelan in the other, according to the official.
The meetings are being done separately so as to ensure that each family has private time with the president. But the fact that they are happening on the same day shows the extent to which the two cases have become intertwined since the only deal that is presumably palatable to the U.S. is one that gets both Americans — a famous WNBA player and a Michigan man who until recently was little known to the public — home together at the same time,
In the past several months, representatives of both families have expressed frustration over what they perceived as a lack of aggressive action and coordination from the administration.
Cherelle Griner, for instance, told The Associated Press in an interview in June that she was dismayed after the failure of a phone call from her wife that was supposed to have been patched through by the American Embassy in Moscow left the couple unable to connect on their fourth anniversary.
Whelan’s relatives have sought to keep attention on his case, anxious that it has been overshadowed in the public eye by the focus on the far more prominent Griner — a two-time Olympic gold medalist and seven-time WNBA all-star. They also conveyed disappointment when Whelan, despite having been held in Russia since December 2018, was not included in a prisoner swap last April that brought home Reed.
Friday’s meetings were scheduled before news broke this week of an unconnected trip to Russia by Bill Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has been a veteran emissary in hostage and detainee cases. Administration officials reacted coolly to that trip, with State Department spokesman Ned Price saying Wednesday that dialogue with Russia outside the “established channel” risks hindering efforts to get Griner and Whelan home.
Administration officials say work on hostage and detainee cases persists regardless of whether a family receives a meeting with the president, though there is also no question such an encounter can help establish a meaningful connection.
Biden met in the Oval Office in March with Reed’s parents after the Texas couple stood with a large sign outside the White House calling for their son’s release. The following month, he returned home.
…
Mali Lashes Out at Ivory Coast Over Detained Troops
Mali’s military government has called Ivory Coast’s request for a regional meeting on Ivorian troops detained in Mali since July “intimidation” and “blackmail.” Ivory Coast accuses Mali of holding its troops hostage.
The Mali government’s official statement says that it is “in no way concerned by” Ivory Coast’s request to hold a meeting with regional bloc ECOWAS over the detained troops.
The statement was read on state television station ORTM by government spokesperson and interim Prime Minister Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, and posted to the station’s Facebook page.
Maiga said the transitional government, while reiterating its attachment to peace, security and age-old good neighborly relations, specifies that for the respect of its sovereignty, its national security, and the interests of its people, it will yield to neither blackmail nor intimidation.
Ivory Coast’s National Security Council published a statement Wednesday requesting an ECOWAS meeting and accusing Mali of taking the soldiers hostage.
The 49 soldiers from Ivory Coast arrived at the Bamako airport in July as support for a U.N. contingent. Mali arrested the soldiers, accusing them of being “mercenaries.”
Olivier Salgado, former spokesperson for the U.N. mission to Mali, MINUSMA, was expelled from the country after he tweeted that the U.N. had notified Mali of the soldiers’ arrival.
Mali’s military government maintained in Thursday’s statement that the troops “arrived in Mali in possession of weapons and munitions of war, without a mission order or authorization, while concealing their identities and their real professions as well as the precise purpose of their presence on Malian soil.”
Three female soldiers were freed earlier this month, leaving 46 troops still in custody.
Malian interim President Assimi Goita said last week that Malian political figures fleeing persecution by the military government have been given asylum in Ivory Coast, and that he was seeking a “mutually beneficial” solution to the diplomatic crisis.
Tensions between Mali and ECOWAS have been high this year, with ECOWAS imposing sanctions on Mali in January over an election delay. Sanctions were lifted in July when Mali set an election date for 2024.
France backed the sanctions, and in August withdrew all of its troops after almost a decade over concerns that Mali is working with Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group.
…
Kyrgyzstan Says Ceasefire Agreed With Tajikistan After Border Conflict
Kyrgyzstan said on Friday it agreed a ceasefire with its Central Asian neighbor Tajikistan after a deadly border conflict between the two Russia allies escalated towards war, involving tanks and rocket artillery.
The former Soviet republics earlier accused each other of restarting fighting in a disputed area which has left at least three dead and dozens wounded.
The ceasefire was set to take effect from 16:00 local time (10:00 GMT), Kyrgyz border guards said in a statement. Earlier on Friday, Moscow urged a cessation of hostilities.
Kyrgyzstan has said Tajik forces using tanks, armored personnel carriers and mortars entered at least one Kyrgyz village and shelled the airport of the Kyrgyz town of Bat ken and adjacent areas.
In turn, Tajikistan accused Kyrgyz forces of shelling an outpost and seven villages with “heavy weaponry” in the same area, which is famous for its jigsaw-puzzle political and ethnic geography and became the site of similar hostilities last year, also nearly leading to a war.
A civilian was killed and three injured, authorities in the Tajik city of Isfara said; two Tajik border guards were killed earlier this week.
Kyrgyzstan reported 31 wounded overnight in its southern Bat ken province which borders Tajikistan’s northern Sughd region and features a Tajik exclave, Vorukh, a key hotspot in recent conflicts.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon both attended a regional security summit in Uzbekistan on Friday. Neither mentioned the conflict in their speeches at the event.
Clashes over the poorly demarcated border are frequent, but usually de-escalate quickly.
Soviet legacy
Border issues in Central Asia stem to a large extent from the Soviet era when Moscow tried to divide the region between ethnic groups whose settlements were often located amidst those of other ethnicities.
Both countries host Russian military bases.
Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace focusing on Central Asia, said the remote, agricultural villages at the center of the dispute are not economically significant, but that both sides have given it an exaggerated political significance.
Umarov said that governments in both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have come to rely on what he called “populist, nationalist rhetoric” that made an exchange of territory aimed at ending the conflict impossible.
Another Central Asia analyst, Alexander Knyazev, said the sides showed no will to resolve the conflict peacefully and the mutual territorial claims provoked aggressive attitudes on all levels.
He said only third-party peacekeepers could prevent further conflicts by establishing a demilitarized zone in the area.
…
Two Teenage Dalit Sisters Raped and Murdered in India
The rape, murder and hanging from a tree of two lower caste Hindu minority Dalit sisters in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has sparked outrage and shock across India.
The bodies of the sisters, 15 and 17, were found hanging from a tree Wednesday evening in the district of Lakhimpur-Kheri. The girls were raped and strangled to death, post-mortem reports confirmed.
According to the police, the girls were in a relationship with two of the six accused men – in early their 20s — and they left their village voluntarily with some of the accused on their motorcycles. They were taken to a sugarcane field where they were raped before being strangled to death, the police said.
After they were raped “the girls insisted that two of the men marry them,” Sanjeev Suman, the police chief of the district, told reporters Thursday.
“The men refused to marry them and they got into a heated argument. Then they strangled the sisters to death,” he said.
“After murdering them, the accused men hung their bodies from a tree, using one of their dupattas [stoles], make their deaths appear like suicide.”
All the six accused— five Muslim and one Hindu — have been arrested, and two of them confessed to the crime, Suman added.
Although the police said that the girls left their village with the accused willingly, their family alleged that they were kidnapped by the men.
Police handed over the bodies of the girls to their family, who buried them in the village Thursday.
Angry villagers blocked a nearby main road and protested against the rape and killings of the Dalit sisters. The girls’ family has demanded about $125,000 and a government job as compensation from the government.
Living at the bottom of a highly discriminatory Hindu hierarchy Dalits routinely face prejudice and violence. In 2020, the gang-rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit girl by some high-caste Hindus in Hathras, another district in Uttar Pradesh, sparked massive public outrage.
India’s National Crime Record Bureau recently reported that last year saw a 19% increase in rape cases in the country compared to 2020. Agency data also shows a 45% rise in reported rapes of Dalits between 2015 and 2020.
According to several estimates, based on government data,1% to 3% of India’s rapes are reported, meaning the number of sexual violence cases against women may be many times the government figures. Critics say that despite new anti-rape laws that mandate stricter punishments, sexual crimes against women continue to rise.
The government has promised “exemplary” punishment for the perpetrators in the Lakhimpur-Kheri case.
Brajesh Pathak, deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, told reporters, “We will see that the punishments in the case are handed out in a way that the souls of the coming generations of the perpetrators will also shiver.”
Many have demanded capital punishment for the culprits in the case on social media, and the girls’ father said he wants the “strictest punishment” for the culprits.
“They hanged my daughters. We want all six of them to be hanged, too,” he said.
…
EU Wants to Ensure Independent Media, Tougher Rules for Media Mergers
Media groups seeking to take over smaller rivals will have to make sure that their deals ensure media pluralism and safeguard editorial independence under draft rules announced by the European Commission on Friday.
The Media Freedom Act (MFA) is part of the European Union’s strategy to prevent political interference in media outlets and spying on journalists. It also requires state advertising to media service providers to be transparent and non-discriminatory.
The proposed rules come amid worries about media freedom in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia and foreign interference in countries holding national elections.
“Democracy will work only if journalists have the means and the necessary protection to keep in check those in power and those with power, be it political or economic actors,”
Commission Vice President Vera Jourova told a news conference.
“This law should be seen as a piece of a broader puzzle. It is part of our efforts to protect democracy at large and to bring some order in our digital information space,” she said.
The rules will apply to TV and radio broadcasters, on-demand audiovisual media services, press publications and very large online platforms and providers of video-sharing platforms.
They will need to be thrashed out with EU countries and lawmakers before they can become law in a process likely to take a year or more.
The proposed rules require regulators to examine whether the merging companies would remain economically sustainable if there was no deal.
There are safeguards against the use of spyware against media, journalists and their families. The EU executive and a new European Board for Media Services can offer their opinions on whether the two criteria have been met.
…
Germany Seizes Russian Energy Firm’s Subsidiaries
Berlin on Friday took control of the German operations of Russian oil firm Rosneft to secure energy supplies which have been disrupted after Moscow invaded Ukraine.
Rosneft’s German subsidiaries, which account for about 12% of oil refining capacity in the country, were placed under trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency, the economy ministry said in a statement.
“The trust management will counter the threat to the security of energy supply,” it said.
The seizures come as Germany is scrambling to wean itself off its dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Moscow has stopped natural gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
The move covers the companies Rosneft Deutschland GmbH (RDG) and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH (RNRM) and thereby their corresponding stakes in three refineries: PCK Schwedt, MiRo and Bayernoil.
Fears had been running high particularly for PCK Schwedt, which is close to the Polish border and supplies around 90% of the oil used in Berlin and the surrounding region, including Berlin-Brandenburg international airport.
The refineries’ operations had been disrupted as the German government decided to slash Russian oil imports, with an aim to halt them completely by year’s end.
By taking control of the sites, the German authorities can then run the refining operations using crude from countries other than Russia.
Energy earthquake
Russia’s war in Ukraine has set off an energy earthquake in Europe and especially in Germany, with prices skyrocketing as Moscow dwindled supplies.
Germany has found itself severely exposed given its heavy reliance on Russian gas.
Moscow had also built up a grip over Germany’s oil refineries, pipelines and other gas infrastructure through energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom over the years.
Energy deals with Russia were long seen as part of a German policy of keeping the peace through cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime.
The cheap energy supplied by Russia was also key in keeping German exports competitive. As a result, the share of Russian gas in Germany had grown to 55% of total imports before the Ukraine war.
But that approach has come back to haunt Germany.
In early April, the German government took the unprecedented step of temporarily taking control of Gazprom’s German subsidiary, after an opaque transfer of ownership of the company sent alarm bells ringing in Berlin.
Germany has also been scrambling to find new sources of energy as deliveries from Russia have dwindled in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
The German government has also taken the stark step of firing up mothballed coal power plants, while putting two of its nuclear power plants on standby through April, rather than phasing them out completely as planned by year’s end.
…