Authorities in Nepal say hundreds of vulnerable Nepalis have been recruited by the Russian military in recent months, with promises of high wages and citizenship. In this report from Kathmandu, a Nepali family tells VOA about how their son joined the Russian army as a mercenary after being left destitute in Russia by a scammer. Henry Wilkins has the story.
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Month: March 2024
US Slaps Sanctions on Zimbabwe Leadership, Citing Abuses
Washington — The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and other senior leaders, denouncing what it said was a campaign of rights abuses and corruption.
The sanctions, which will block any U.S.-based property and block any unofficial travel to the United States, replace a broader, two-decade-old sanctions program against Zimbabwe.
“The changes we are making today are intended to make clear what has always been true: our sanctions are not intended to target the people of Zimbabwe,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
“We are refocusing our sanctions on clear and specific targets: President Mnangagwa’s criminal network of government officials and businesspeople who are most responsible for corruption or human rights abuse against the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the new measures were part of a “stronger, more targeted sanctions policy” on Zimbabwe as he voiced concern over “serious cases of corruption and human rights abuse.”
“Key individuals, including members of the government of Zimbabwe, bear responsibility for these actions, including the looting of government coffers that robs Zimbabweans of public resources,” Blinken said in a statement.
“Multiple cases of abductions, physical abuse, and unlawful killing have left citizens living in fear.”
Mnangagwa, whose party has been in power for more than four decades, was declared the winner of a new term in an election in August that international observers said fell short of democratic standards.
He is the second consecutive Zimbabwean leader to face U.S. sanctions following veteran president Robert Mugabe.
Hopes of a thaw briefly surfaced after Mnangagwa pushed Mugabe out of power in 2017, but Western powers and rights groups say that the new leadership has also clamped down on the opposition and protests.
President Joe Biden in a declaration on Monday ended an earlier sanctions program on Zimbabwe imposed in 2003 under George W. Bush, who had advocated for a broader global push of sanctions on the country under Mugabe.
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Haitian PM’s Whereabouts Unknown Since He Signed Bilateral Deal With Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya — The whereabouts of Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, were not known Monday, three days after he signed a bilateral accord in Kenya to pave the way for a possible multinational force to help restore security in the troubled Caribbean nation. A fierce battle between police and armed gangs took place in Haiti over the weekend, and a gang leader there has called for Henry’s ouster.
Haiti’s government declared a 72-hour state of emergency after an intense battle between the country’s police against powerful armed gangs over the weekend.
Macharia Munene, a professor of history and international relations at USIA-Africa in Nairobi, told VOA the upheaval is concerning.
“With [gang leader] Barbecue and his team saying they want Prime Minister Henry out, it’s a revolution,” Munene said. “We don’t know if they have been inspired by what is going on in the Sahel … the government was already incapacitated in Haiti, but this makes it even worse. That they can go to a jail, open up everything and release almost 4,000 people [prisoners].”
Barbecue, also known as Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer and the leader of a powerful gang alliance, says the goal is to block Henry from returning to the country.
Henry traveled overseas last week to drum up support for an international security force to intervene in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.
In Kenya, he and President William Ruto signed a long-awaited bilateral accord that paves the way for 1,000 Kenyan police officers to lead a proposed multinational, U.N.-backed force that would help restore security in Haiti. Ruto said the urgency of the mission could not be overstated.
“It is a mission for humanity,” he said. “It is a mission for solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Haiti.”
Henry thanked Ruto.
“We did this appeal, and you stepped up,” he said. “You said, we want to help Haiti … thank you president, we appreciate it.”
Munene said the signing of the document doesn’t legalize the deployment of Kenyan police given that a Kenyan court had deemed such a move unconstitutional in a recent ruling.
Ekuru Aukot, a constitutional lawyer and one of the petitioners who brought the matter to the Kenyan court, said on social media that the signing was “very misleading,” that Henry was imposed on the Haitian people and had no capacity to commit Haiti to any treaty.”
The Kenyan government has not commented on Henry’s whereabouts since the Friday signing ceremony, even after repeated inquiries by VOA.
Munene said the Haitian prime minister should try to go back to show he’s in charge.
“We don’t know whether he is still in the country or has gone to another country,” Munene said. “We don’t know for now where he is but it’s clear that in Port-au-Prince, the Barbecue has said he wants to barbecue the prime minister once he gets there. That may not be a good indicator.”
Munene said what happened this weekend in Haiti may complicate matters, not just for Kenya but for the other countries that have volunteered to participate in the intervention.
“How they will be received … they will not be given tea and coffee to welcome them; instead they might have to defend themselves in a very rough way,” Munene said. “So, the developments are not very flattering for the countries that are supposed to send police officers to keep the peace.”
While some Kenyans support the mission in Haiti, Munene said there are many others who still wonder why their country wants to lead the multinational force given that other countries are more powerful and better equipped but have not been willing to step forward.
Sandra Lemaire contributed to this report.
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Apple Fined Nearly $2 Billion by European Union Over Music Streaming Competition
London — The European Union leveled its first antitrust penalty against Apple on Monday, fining the U.S. tech giant nearly $2 billion for breaking the bloc’s competition laws by unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals.
Apple banned app developers from “fully informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services outside of the app,” said the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm and top antitrust enforcer.
“This is illegal, and it has impacted millions of European consumers,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, said at a news conference.
Apple behaved this way for almost a decade, which meant many users paid “significantly higher prices for music streaming subscriptions,” the commission said.
The 1.8 billion-euro fine follows a long-running investigation triggered by a complaint from Swedish streaming service Spotify five years ago.
The EU has led global efforts to crack down on Big Tech companies, including a series of multbillion-dollar fines for Google and charging Meta with distorting the online classified ad market. The commission also has opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple’s mobile payments service.
Apple hit back at both the commission and Spotify, saying it would appeal the penalty.
“The decision was reached despite the Commission’s failure to uncover any credible evidence of consumer harm, and ignores the realities of a market that is thriving, competitive, and growing fast,” the company said in a statement.
It said Spotify stood to benefit from the decision, asserting that the Swedish streaming service that holds a 56% share of Europe’s music streaming market and doesn’t pay Apple for using its App Store met 65 times with the commission over eight years.
“Ironically, in the name of competition, today’s decision just cements the dominant position of a successful European company that is the digital music market’s runaway leader,” Apple said.
The commission’s investigation initially centered on two concerns. One was the iPhone maker’s practice of forcing app developers that are selling digital content to use its in-house payment system, which charges a 30% commission on all subscriptions.
But the EU later dropped that to focus on how Apple prevents app makers from telling their users about cheaper ways to pay for subscriptions that don’t involve going through an app.
The investigation found that Apple banned streaming services from telling users about how much subscription offers cost outside of their apps, including links in their apps to pay for alternative subscriptions or even emailing users to tell them about different pricing options.
The fine comes the same week that new EU rules are set to kick in that are aimed at preventing tech companies from dominating digital markets.
The Digital Markets Act, due to take effect Thursday, imposes a set of do’s and don’ts on “gatekeeper” companies including Apple, Meta, Google parent Alphabet, and TikTok parent ByteDance — under threat of hefty fines.
The DMA’s provisions are designed to prevent tech giants from the sort of behavior that’s at the heart of the Apple investigation. Apple has already revealed how it will comply, including allowing iPhone users in Europe to use app stores other than its own and enabling developers to offer alternative payment systems.
The commission also has opened a separate antitrust investigation into Apple’s mobile payments service, and the company has promised to open up its tap-and-go mobile payment system to rivals in order to resolve it.
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Ukraine Claims Attack on Russian Rail Bridge
Indian Court Tells Zoo to Change ‘Blasphemous’ Names of Lions, Sparks Outrage
In Ghana, Photojournalist Inspires Deaf Students to Explore Visual Storytelling
For students with a disability, career options can appear limited. But in Ghana, one journalist is using photojournalism to encourage students at a deaf school to broaden their horizons. For VOA, Senanu Tord reports from Savelugu, Ghana.
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Germany Admits to Leaked Audio of Plans to Arm Ukraine
Germany admits to leaked details of a military meeting outlining future munitions and battle plans for Ukraine. Russia calls Germany its “age-old” rival that is again its “sworn” enemy. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the story.
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A Medical Plane Carrying Norway’s King Departs Malaysia, Day After he Received Pacemaker
LANGKAWI, Malaysia — An airplane carrying Norway’s King Harald V departed Malaysia on Sunday, a day after he was implanted with a pacemaker.
Europe’s oldest reigning monarch was hospitalized for an infection during a private vacation on the northern resort island of Langkawi, the royal house said Tuesday.
He underwent surgery at the Sultanah Maliha Hospital on Saturday to implant a temporary pacemaker due to a low heart rate, according to the royal house.
Norwegian media outlets said Harald traveled to Malaysia with his wife, Queen Sonja, to celebrate his 87th birthday.
A Scandinavian Airlines medical evacuation plane, which took off from Oslo on Thursday, arrived in Langkawi on Friday. The Boeing 737-700 aircraft has previously been used as a flying ambulance.
According to Flightradar24, the same plane departed from Langkawi on Sunday headed for Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, from where it is scheduled to travel onward to Norway.
The Norwegian royal house confirmed Sunday that the monarch has left Malaysia and the plane is expected to arrive in Oslo early Monday.
“Upon arrival in Norway, His Majesty will be admitted to the [Oslo] hospital Rikshospitalet,” the royal palace said, adding that Harald would remain on sick leave for the next two weeks, during which Crown Prince Haakon will assume the monarch’s duties.
According to Norwegian news agency NTB, which cited information from Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the king’s transport back to Norway will cost an estimated 2 million Norwegian kroner ($190,000), which will be taken from the defense budget.
The aging Norwegian monarch has suffered from frail health over the past few years, and has been admitted to a hospital for treatment on numerous occasions. Harald, who has been seen using crutches, had an operation to replace a heart valve in October 2020 after being hospitalized with breathing difficulties.
Harald has repeatedly said he has no plans to abdicate, unlike his second cousin Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who stepped down earlier this year.
Harald’s duties as Norway’s head of state are ceremonial and he holds no political power. He ascended to the throne following the death of his father, King Olav, in 1991.
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Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus Is Granted Bail in Bangladesh Graft Case
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A court in Bangladesh on Sunday granted bail to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus in a $2.3 million embezzlement case.
Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for pioneering the use of microcredit to help impoverished people, was sentenced to six months in prison in January on a separate charge of violating labor laws. He was granted bail in that case too and has appealed.
Prosecutor Mir Ahmmad Ali Salam said the embezzlement case involves a workers welfare fund of Grameen Telecom, which owns 34.2% of the country’s largest mobile phone company, Grameenphone, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecom giant Telenor.
“The charges involve the embezzlement of over 250 million takas and money laundering. The accused gave the money to trade union leaders instead of the workers. This way they deprived the ordinary workers of their rightful earnings,” Salam said.
Yunus and seven other defendants appeared in court Sunday and six others were absent.
Defense counsel Abdullah Al Mamun told the court that Yunus, 83, and the others were innocent.
Last year, more than 170 global leaders and Nobel laureates urged Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to suspend legal proceedings against Yunus. His supporters say he has been targeted because of his frosty relations with Hasina. The government has denied the allegations.
your ad hereBurkina Prosecutor: ‘170 People Executed’ in Attacks on Villages
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — Around 170 people were “executed” in attacks on three villages in northern Burkina Faso a week ago, a regional prosecutor said on Sunday as jihadist violence flares in the junta-ruled country.
On that same day, February 25, separate attacks on a mosque in eastern Burkina and a Catholic church in the north left dozens more dead.
Aly Benjamin Coulibaly said he had received reports of the attacks on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soroe in Yatenga province on February 25, with a provisional toll of “around 170 people executed.”
The attacks left others wounded and caused material damage, the prosecutor for the northern town of Ouahigouya added in a statement, without apportioning blame to any group.
He said his office ordered an investigation and appealed to the public for information.
Survivors of the attacks told AFP that dozens of women and young children were among the victims.
Local security sources said the attacks were separate from deadly incidents that happened on the same day at a mosque in the rural community of Natiaboani and a church in the village of Essakane.
Authorities have yet to release an official death toll for those attacks but a senior church official said at the time that at least 15 civilians were killed in that attack.
Burkina Faso has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency waged by rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group that spilled over from neighboring Mali in 2015.
The violence has killed almost 20,000 people and displaced more than two million in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries situated in the Sahel, a region wracked by instability.
Anger at the state’s inability to end the insecurity played a major role in two military coups in 2022. Current strongman Ibrahim Traore has made the fight against rebel groups a priority.
your ad hereLawmakers Elect Shehbaz Sharif as Pakistan’s New Premier
ISLAMABAD — Lawmakers in Pakistan’s National Assembly elected Sunday Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s new prime minister for the second time.
Allies of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan in parliament shouted in protest against his appointment, alleging rigging in last month’s election.
Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said Sharif secured 201 votes, defeating Omar Ayub of the Sunni Ittehad Council who got 92 votes. Sharif only needed 169 votes to get majority.
Following days of negotiations, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League party and his supporters formed an alliance after the February 8 election whose results were announced after an unusual delay because of a nationwide mobile phone outage. Authorities said the cutting of communications was necessary to avoid militant attacks on candidates and security forces.
However, the delay drew criticism from Khan’s party, which insists the vote was rigged to stop it from getting a majority. The party claims it has evidence that its victory “was stolen during the vote count,” a charge the Election Commission denies.
Sharif’s government faces multiple challenges, including how to respond to a surge in militant attacks, fix the ailing economy, improve relations with the neighboring, Taliban-run Afghanistan, repair crumbling infrastructure, and resolve year-round power outages. It must also maintain political stability as Khan’s party has vowed to continue protests against the alleged vote-rigging.
Khan, who is currently serving prison terms in multiple cases and has been barred from seeking or holding office, wrote last week a letter to the International Monetary Fund, urging it to link any talks with Islamabad to an audit of February’s election. Khan’s move comes days before the IMF releases a key installment of a bailout loan to Pakistan.
Pakistan has been relying on bailouts to prop up its foreign exchange reserves and avoid default, with the IMF and wealthy allies like China and Saudi Arabia financing the country to the tune of billions of dollars. Under his previous term as prime minister, Sharif — who replaced Khan after his ouster in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022 — had to struggle for months to get $3 billion bailout from the IMF.
Sharif has said he will seek a new IMF bailout after the end of March when the current one expires.
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Heavy Rains in Pakistan Leave at Least 29 Dead
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities said Sunday at least 29 people died and 50 others injured due to heavy rains that swept across the country in the past 48 hours, causing several houses to collapse and landslides to block roads, particularly in the northwest.
This comes as Pakistan is also witnessing severe snowfall.
About 23 rain-related deaths were reported in various areas in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan since Thursday night, the provincial disaster management authority said in a statement.
Five people died in the southwestern Baluchistan province after the coastal town of Gwadar got flooded, forcing authorities to use boats to evacuate people.
Casualties and damages were also reported in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the National Disaster Management Authority said in a separate statement.
Emergency relief was being provided to people in affected areas and heavy machinery used to remove debris blocking highways, the agency added.
The country’s Karakoram Highway which links Pakistan with China is still blocked in some places due to landslides, according to the spokesman for the northern Gilgit Baltistan region, Faizullah Faraq.
Authorities advised tourists against traveling to the scenic north due to weather conditions. Last week, several visitors were stranded there because of the heavy rains.
This year, Pakistan is witnessing an unusual delay in winter rains, starting in February instead of November.
Monsoon and winter rains cause damage in Pakistan every year.
In 2022, climate-induced unusual monsoon rains and flooding devastated most of the areas in impoverished Pakistan, killing more than 1,739 people, affecting around 33 million people and displacing nearly 8 million. The rains and floods in 2022 also caused billions of dollars of damages to the country’s economy and some of the areas people who lost their homes are still living in makeshift homes.
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Weather Delays SpaceX Launch Taking US, Russians to ISS
Raye Sets Record at BRIT Awards, Britain’s Pop Music Honors
LONDON — Singer-songwriter Raye was the big winner Saturday at the BRIT Awards, the biggest night in British music, setting a new record for most prizes in one night at the annual ceremony.
Raye won six awards, including for artist of the year, album of the year for My 21st Century Blues and song of the year for Escapism.
The 26-year-old also triumphed in the genre category for R&B act and was named best new artist. Her tally of seven nods had broken the record for the most nominations by a single artist in any one year, according to the annual ceremony’s organizers, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
Raye, who parted ways with her record label in 2021 to work as an independent artist after she said the label had withheld her debut album, began early celebrations this week, when she was named BRITs Songwriter of the Year. She is the first woman to win the award since its launch in 2022.
“You just don’t understand what this means to me,” a tearful Raye said in her acceptance speech for album of the year, while standing next to her grandmother, whom she also thanked for “her prayers.”
“I’m so proud of this album. I’m in love with music. All I ever wanted to be was an artist and now I’m an artist with an album of the year.”
Jungle won group of the year, while rock band Bring Me the Horizon won the alternative/rock act category, beating the likes of Blur and The Rolling Stones.
Blur, who had three nominations, went home empty-handed.
Dua Lipa, who also had three nominations, won pop act.
More than half, 55%, of this year’s nominations featured women, either as a solo artist or as part of an all-woman group, the BPI said.
Artist of the year is a gender-neutral category now counting 10 nominees after organizers doubled its number following an outcry over an all-male list of contenders last year.
U.S. singer SZA won the gender-neutral international artist of the year category, which also now counts 10 nominees, beating the likes of Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. The latter won international song of the year for her hit Flowers.
Indie rock band boygenius won international group of the year.
Ahead of the awards, Kylie Minogue was named as this year’s BRITs Global Icon, while indie rock band The Last Dinner Party were revealed as winners of the rising star award.
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Germany Investigates Leak of Recording of Its Officers Discussing Ukraine Aid
WARSAW, Poland — German authorities said Saturday they were conducting an investigation after an audio recording in which German military officers purportedly discussed support for Ukraine, including the potential use of Taurus missiles, was published in Russia.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was in Rome on Saturday, called it a “very serious matter” and said that German authorities were working to clarify the matter “very carefully, very intensively and very quickly.” His comments were carried by Germany’s dpa news agency.
In the 38-minute recording, military officers discuss the question of how the Taurus long-range cruise missiles could be used by Ukraine. A debate has been taking place in Germany over whether to supply the missiles as Ukraine faced setbacks on the battlefield after two years of war, and with military aid from the United States being held up in Congress.
Earlier this week, Scholz said he remains reluctant to send the Taurus missiles to Ukraine, pointing to a risk of Germany becoming directly involved in the war. His hesitancy is a source of friction in his three-party coalition and annoyed Germany’s conservative opposition.
But in the purported audio recording, German officers discuss the theoretical possibility of the missiles being used in Ukraine.
Germany’s Ministry of Defense said it was investigating whether communications within the air force were intercepted by Russia. In a statement carried by dpa, it said: “According to our assessment, a conversation within the air force was intercepted. We cannot currently say with certainty whether changes have been made to the recorded or written version that is circulating on social media.”
Margarita Simonyan, chief editor of Russian state-funded TV channel RT, posted the audio on social media.
“In this (…) recording, high-ranking Bundeswehr officers discuss how they will bomb (attention!) the Crimean bridge,” she wrote on the Telegram messaging app, adding that the conversation took place on February 19. Within the conversation, she said, one of the officers mentioned a planned trip to Ukraine on February 21 to coordinate strikes on Russian targets.
Germany is now the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States and is further stepping up its support this year. But Scholz has stalled for months on Ukraine’s desire for Taurus missiles, which have a range of up to 500 kilometers (311 miles) and could in theory be used against targets far into Russian territory.
The chancellor has long emphasized his determination to help Ukraine without escalating the war and drawing in Germany and NATO, stressing that no German soldiers will go to Ukraine.
“We will not send European soldiers to Ukraine. We don’t want a war between Russia and NATO. And we will do all we can to prevent it,” Scholz told a meeting of the Party of European Socialists in Rome on Saturday.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the future deployment of Western troops on the ground in Ukraine was not “ruled out,” a suggestion quickly dismissed by Germany, Poland and other allied countries.
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