Month: May 2024

Indian Kashmir voters prepare for historic election amid political shifts

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Srinagar — Voters in Indian Kashmir are going to the polls from May 13 through May 25 to select their representatives in the Indian parliament. Local media reports claim that more than 1.7 million voters will determine the outcome for 24 candidates competing for the Srinagar constituency. 

This is part of India’s ongoing general elections, which began in late April and run through June. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term.

The vote comes nearly five years after the Modi government stripped Muslim majority Kashmir of its semiautonomous status. Kashmir’s loss of its special status in August 2019 led to the division of the region into two federal territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Both areas are ruled by the central government and have no legislatures of their own.

Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is not contesting the elections in Indian Kashmir. News reports say the move signals ongoing discontent over the 2019 move and there is speculation BJP candidates would have lost.

Residents say the Indian general elections are important for the people of Kashmir. They maintain that the Modi government has robbed the region of rights that were guaranteed to them under the Indian constitution.

“What’s left for us locals? Our land is given to non-locals, jobs are taken by them too, our electricity is sent to other Indian states and everywhere you look, high-ranking officials are not from Jammu and Kashmir,” Fayaz Ahmad Malik, a resident, told VOA during a rally at Fateh Kadal, an area in Indian Kashmir’s capital.

“I have not voted in my life ever before but today I feel it is necessary because we are suffering. Modi and his party want to destroy us, but we have to stop him,” he said.

Modi visited Indian Kashmir in March for the first time since the region lost its special status. Amid tight security, he told a crowd that had packed the Bakshi Stadium in the region’s capital, Srinagar, that Kashmir has seen significant changes and prospered since his government acted in 2019.

Muzamil Maqbool, a political analyst and host of the podcast show Plain Talk, told VOA that the Kashmir valley is expected to see record-breaking voter turnout. He said the situation on the ground has changed since 2019.

“The government of India always wanted to increase the voting percentage here because for years and decades Kashmir has witnessed a massive boycott,” Maqbool said. “The government of India, political institutions and others always wanted Kashmiris to vote irrespective of which candidate will be chosen and the government of India has highly succeeded in that,” he added.

Maqbool believes people want to cast their vote and support their candidates openly. He added that young people, first time voters especially from central Kashmir, south and north Kashmir, are very eager to show the power of voting in democracy.

Gul Mohammad Khan, a resident of Srinagar, said that he expects a strong candidate who would dare to challenge Modi and other Hindu leaders openly.

“In the past no Kashmiri politician supporting India has shown such courage. They instead have aligned themselves with New Delhi’s interests,” Khan said. “I hope for a leader who can make Indian leaders dance to his tune,” he said.

Professor Noor Baba, another political analyst, told VOA that competition in Kashmir will be primarily between two regional political parties; the National Conference, or NC, and the People’s Democratic Party, or the PDP.

Modi’s ruling party, Baba said, chose not to contest voting in Kashmir despite significant investment it made in reshaping politics in the area. India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, or INC, is supporting the NC.

“In Srinagar, the NC candidate has the support of his voters while the PDP candidate has also gained sympathy as he has been a victim of post-2019 politics,” Baba said.

Nasir Aslam Wani, the National Conference provincial president, and Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, National Conference’s candidate for Srinagar, were contacted for comments but their phones were switched off.

“NC has an advantage due to its longer historical presence and stronger social base.

There is a perception that PDP played a role in the political rehabilitation of the BJP in the politics of the erstwhile state by forming a government with it as its alliance partner. It played a key role in facilitating BJP’s reshaping politics in Kashmir,” Baba added. 

Just before the ruling BJP revoked Kashmir’s special status in 2019, the party withdrew its support from the PDP, ending their alliance. The PDP is now a bitter rival to Modi’s party.

The “2024 elections in Kashmir are different from previous ones. Expectations are high, especially among the youth, who seek candidates to truly represent them in the Indian parliament,” said Tariq Ahmad Bhat, a senior youth leader of the People’s Democratic Party, to VOA.  

“Previously the public viewed elections negatively, believing that voting would not make any difference. Today I can see the change. People have realized that undeserving candidates cannot be governed anymore,” Bhat added.

Jammu and Kashmir has been a disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan since the countries gained independence from British rule in 1947. Two wars have been fought between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Both nations govern the territory under its control. 
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Georgian PM vows to pass ‘foreign agent’ bill next week after thousands protest 

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TBILISI — Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze vowed on Sunday to push ahead with a law on “foreign agents” that has sparked a political crisis, after opponents of the bill rallied in one of the largest protests seen since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. 

Kobakhidze told a televised briefing that the ruling Georgian Dream party would secure passage of the bill in a third reading this week, and threatened protesters with prosecution if they resort to violence. 

Georgia’s opposition has called on opponents of the bill to stage on all-night protest outside parliament to prevent lawmakers from entering the building on Monday, when they are due to begin debating the bill’s third reading. 

The bill requires organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence or face punitive fines.  

Western countries and Georgia’s opposition denounce it as authoritarian and Russian-inspired. Critics liken it to Russia’s 2012 “foreign agent” law, which has been used to hound critics of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. 

The dispute over the bill has come to be seen as key to whether Georgia, which has had traditionally warm relations with the West, continues its push for European Union and NATO membership, or instead builds ties with Russia. 

The EU, which granted Georgia candidate status in December, has repeatedly said the bill could jeopardize Tbilisi’s further integration with the bloc. 

Georgian Dream’s founder, billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, said last month that the law was necessary to assert Georgian sovereignty against Western powers which he said wanted to drag the country into a confrontation with Russia. 

On Saturday evening, a crowd of protesters braved driving rain to stage the largest protest yet, with several columns of marchers shutting down much of central Tbilisi. 

A Reuters estimate, using the Mapchecking crowd counting tool, placed the number of protesters at around 50,000 people. 

Some Georgian media and activists have put the crowd size in the hundreds of thousands, citing their own calculations. The ruling party said 18,000 attended, but did not explain its reasoning. 

 
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4 killed during rebel attack on Central African Republic mining town 

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BANGUI — Armed rebels Sunday attacked a Chinese-run gold mining town and killed at least four people in Central African Republic, authorities said. 

Maxime Balalu, a local government spokesperson, told The Associated Press that the Coalition of Patriots for Change, an alliance of rebel groups aligned with former President Francois Bozize, had carried out the attack in Gaga, a village roughly 125 miles (200 kilometers) from the capital, Bangui. 

He said the death toll might rise and included several individuals who worked at the nearby mine. Several others were injured in the attack, Balalu said. 

Central African Republic has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced President Francois Bozize from office. Mostly Christian militias fought back. 

A 2019 peace deal only lessened the fighting, and six of the 14 armed groups that signed later left the agreement. The Coalition of Patriots for Change was founded in 2020 in the aftermath of the agreement. 

The country remains one of the poorest in the world despite its vast mineral wealth of gold and diamonds among others. Rebel groups have operated with impunity across the embattled country over the past decade, thwarting mining exploration by foreign companies. 

Many of those now operating in the country are Chinese-run and have faced security challenges. Last year, nine Chinese nationals were killed at another gold mine in Central African Republic during an attack that the government blamed on the same rebel alliance. In 2020, two Chinese nationals died when residents led an uprising against a Chinese-operated mine in Sosso Nakombo. 
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Afghan officials put flood toll at 315

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Islamabad, Pakistan — Afghan officials said Sunday that the death toll from Friday’s flash floods in the northern Baghlan province had risen to at least 315, with more than 1,600 people injured.

The refugee ministry announced the latest casualties through social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. It said more than 2,600 homes had been “completely and partially destroyed” in the province since the calamity hit following heavy seasonal rains.

The ministry stressed that it was reporting preliminary assessments from its Baghlan office, saying the financial and human losses could increase.

The United Nations World Food Program said Sunday on X that most of the affected areas in the province are “inaccessible by trucks,” and it is using “every alternative,” including donkeys, “to get food to the survivors who lost everything.”

 The International Organization for Migration supported the losses reported by the Afghan Taliban authorities, saying the death toll has exceeded 300 and that it expected the number to rise. The agency said the flood had destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

The IOM wrote on X, “We operate 16 warehouses throughout Afghanistan, and we are working with our partners to provide lifesaving aid to the affected people.”  

The spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres quoted him as saying that he was saddened by the loss of life in flash floods in Baghlan and extended his condolences to the victims’ families.

“The United Nations and its partners in Afghanistan are coordinating with the de facto [Taliban] authorities to swiftly assess needs and provide emergency assistance,” Stéphane Dujarric said.

Experts attribute the high seasonal rainfall in Baghlan and subsequent flooding to climate change, which caught an apparently unprepared administration and local residents off guard.

The deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Abdul Ghani Baradar, traveled to the province Sunday to oversee rescue operations, medical aid provision, emergency food distribution, and temporary shelter arrangements, his office said.

Poverty-stricken Afghanistan, reeling from years of conflict, is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, and floods. It is considered by the U.N. to be among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

In mid-April, heavy rains and flash floods in 32 of the 34 Afghan provinces killed more than 100 people and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes. The calamity also destroyed 24,000 hectares of farmland in a country where 80% of the more than 40 million population depend on agriculture to survive.

Afghanistan’s economy collapsed after the Taliban seized power militarily in August 2021.

Aid groups say the Taliban-governed South Asian nation finds itself economically isolated, losing development funding that previously subsidized an estimated 75% of Afghanistan’s spending on public services.

International humanitarian aid for the country has significantly declined since the Taliban takeover even though the U.N. estimates over 15 million Afghans, or 35% of the population, suffer from crisis or worse levels of food insecurity. 
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Tunisian pundit arrested over TV comments, lawyers say

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Tunis, Tunisia — Tunisian security forces stormed the bar association in Tunis and arrested the lawyer and political commentator Sonia Dahmani after she made comments on television about the state of the country, her lawyers said.

The arrest late Saturday was covered live by the France 24 news channel, which said it was forced to cut its broadcast, and that its crew had been assaulted and a cameraman briefly detained.

Dahmani’s attorney Dalila Msaddek in a post on Facebook reported a “police attack against the bar association headquarters” with “lawyers assaulted and the abduction of colleague Sonia Dahmani to an unknown location.”

Islam Hamza, another lawyer in Dahmani’s defense team, confirmed to AFP that Dahmani had been arrested.

Tunisian media reported Dahmani was under investigation under the controversial Decree 54, which outlaws “spreading false news” online or in the media and “incitement to hate speech.”

Journalists and opposition figures argue the law has been used to stifle dissent.

Msaddek said the pundit was summoned to court on Friday to explain her remarks but refused to appear. A court then issued a warrant ordering law enforcement to bring Dahmani before the investigating judge.

Dahmani told journalists before her arrest that she refused to appear “without knowing the reasons for this summons.”

During a show on the Carthage Plus TV channel on Tuesday, she responded to another pundit’s claim that migrants from sub-Saharan African countries were seeking to settle in Tunisia.

“What extraordinary country are we talking about?” she asked sarcastically, triggering angry reactions from some Tunisian social media users.

France 24, whose team had been at the bar association at the time of the arrest to report on an event in support of Dahmani, said in a statement that police officers forced the crew to stop transmitting live footage.

The police “violently” removed the camera from its tripod and detained cameraman Hamdi Tlili, who “was released after about 10 minutes,” said the network.

It condemned what it said was a “brutal intervention by security forces that prevented journalists from practicing their profession as they were covering a lawyers’ protest for justice and in support of freedom of expression.”

Signed by President Kais Saied in September 2022, Decree 54 mandates up to five years in prison for the use of communications networks to “produce, spread [or] disseminate …  false news” or to “slander others, tarnish their reputation, financially or morally harm them.”

Since the decree came into force, more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures have been prosecuted under it, according to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.

The North African country is a key departure point for thousands of migrants who risk perilous Mediterranean Sea crossings each year hoping for a better life in Europe.

But the situation of sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia has worsened, particularly after a speech by Saied last year in which he painted “hordes of illegal migrants” as a demographic threat. 
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Prada focuses generational transition on Italian artisans

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TORGIANO, Italy — The Prada Group is expanding its production footprint in Italy, including dozens of new jobs at its knitwear factory in Umbria, leaning into “Made in Italy” as integral to the brand’s ethos and developing new artisanal talent to ease the luxury group through a generational shift in its workforce.

Prada CEO Andrea Guerra, who was brought in last year as part of the generational change in family-run Prada’s management, said at an unveiling of the expanded plant Tuesday that the company is investing 60 million euros ($65 million) in production this year.

At Torgiano, Prada has added 30 new jobs this year, alongside 65 last year, bringing the workforce to some 220 employees, mostly women, to create knitwear for the Prada and Miu Miu brands, a key category for the group. The site had just 39 employees when Prada bought it in 2001.

“For many years, Torgiano was a small, important place, linked to the Umbrian knitwear tradition,” mostly dedicated to product research and development, Guerra said. “In the last six or seven years, with the extraordinary growth in knitwear, we decided to create an all-around industrial hub,” adding production to a reinforced R&D center.

The innocuous low-slung plant, identified by a simple, small Prada nameplate near the gate, is at the heart of a network that includes dozens of smaller companies that together create some 30,000 pieces of knitwear a month for the global luxury group. They include red crocheted Miu Miu culottes to soft gray Prada cardigans that have become a trademark.

Guerra described the Milan-based fashion group’s manufacturing footprint in central Italy as a “network of intelligent relationships and craftsmanship merged with a constant capacity to bring innovation to the market.”

Prada’s investments to exert greater control over its supply chain stand out against the backdrop of a recent investigation that revealed sweatshop conditions in Chinese-owned factories producing luxury goods for other Italian brands in the Lombardy region, where the Italian fashion capital Milan is located. The production arm of Giorgio Armani has been put under receivership as part of an ongoing supply chain probe.

Prada has focused on what it calls vertical integration of its supply chain — working with smaller companies, some with just a handful of craftspeople, that provide specific, sometimes unique, skills. For its knitwear operation, Prada works with some 60 smaller companies that it refers to as “partners” or “collaborators.”

“Contractors, subcontractors, that is not something tied to this world. There are production phases that are assigned to our collaborators, our partners,” Guerra said, adding: “The way I work inside, and the way I work outside needs to be the same.”

Lorenzo Bertelli, marketing director and head of corporate social responsibility who is slated to take over the company from his parents Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, said a strong governance is the key to avoiding “such incidents.” He credited his father with starting Prada on the road to integrating its supply chain in the 1990s.

Audits of suppliers, which have so far been voluntary, will become mandatory in 2025 under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting legislation, aimed at controlling abuses, said Stefania Saviolo, a fashion and luxury expert at Milan’s Bocconi University. Publicly quoted companies like Prada, which are used to a level of transparency and reporting, will likely have an easier time than others, she said.

Integrating the supply chain doesn’t just mean that a major player buys up smaller companies, she said, but they may invest in specific machinery, or help them secure bank financing. “It is not ownership, it is a longer transaction along the model of partnership,” Saviolo said, adding that such relationships also provide a sense of security to the smaller companies more vulnerable to market crashes.

Noting that the luxury and fashion industries have long relied on third-party manufacturing, Bernstein global luxury goods analyst Luca Solca said the kind of investments by Prada to integrate manufacturing processes in-house “is a sort of catch-up with best-in-class-players in the industry.”

A key part of Prada’s investments are aimed at securing know-how into the next generation, a transition the company has been preparing also in its management and creative roles.

Finding new workers with both experience and passion is difficult, even in a region where knitwear is part of the local tradition, said Lorenzo Teodori, who runs the Torgiano plant.

To fill that gap, Prada runs an internal academy as needed at its 23 Italian production sites to train young craftspeople. The next one in Torgiano starts in the fall, with experienced workers training the next generation.

“Through the Prada Academy, we have seen how this dialogue is still alive and successful,” Bertelli said. “We need it to train the future technicians of tomorrow, who in turn will be the teachers in the future. It is a fundamental cycle for our group.”
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Vatican and Rome begin dash to 2025 Jubilee with papal bull, construction

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VATICAN CITY — The Vatican crossed a key milestone Thursday in the runup to its 2025 Jubilee with the promulgation of the official decree establishing the Holy Year. It’s a once-every-quarter-century event that is expected to bring some 32 million pilgrims to Rome and has already brought months of headaches to Romans.

Pope Francis presided over a ceremony in the atrium of St. Peter’s Basilica for the reading of the papal bull, or official edict, that laid out his vision for a year of hope: He asked for gestures of solidarity for the poor, prisoners, migrants and Mother Nature.

“Hope is needed by God’s creation, gravely damaged and disfigured by human selfishness,” Francis said in a vigil service afterward. “Hope is needed by those peoples and nations who look to the future with anxiety and fear.”

The pomp-filled event, attended by cardinals, bishops and ordinary faithful, kicked off the final seven-month dash of preparations and public works projects to be completed by December 24, when Francis opens the basilica’s Holy Door and formally inaugurates the Jubilee.

In a novelty, Francis announced in the papal bull that he would also open a Holy Door in a prison “as a sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence.”

For the Vatican, the Holy Year is a centuries-old tradition of the faithful making pilgrimages to Rome to visit the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul, and receiving indulgences for the forgiveness of their sins in the process. For the city of Rome, it’s a chance to take advantage of some 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) in public funds to carry out long-delayed projects to lift the city out of years of decay and neglect.

“In a beautiful city, you live better,” said the Vatican’s Jubilee point-person, Archbishop Renato Fisichella, who himself is not indifferent to the added bonus of Jubilee funding. “Rome will become an even more beautiful city, because it will be ever more at the service of its people, pilgrims and tourists who will come.”

Pope Boniface VIII declared the first Holy Year in 1300, and now they are held every 25 years. While Francis called an interim one devoted to mercy in 2015, the 2025 edition is the first big one since St. John Paul II’s 2000 Jubilee, when he ushered the Catholic Church into the third millennium.

As occurred in the runup to 2000, pre-Jubilee public works projects have overwhelmed Rome, with flood-lit construction sites operating around the clock, entire swaths of central boulevards rerouted and traffic snarling the city’s already clogged streets.

The Tiber riverfront for much of the city center is now off limits as work crews create new parks. Piazzas are being repaved, bike paths charted and 5G cells built. The aim is to bring the Eternal City up to par with other European capitals and take advantage of the 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion) in special Jubilee funding and some 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) more in other public and post-pandemic EU funds that are available.

“It’s really putting our patience to the test,” said Tiziana Cafini, who operates a tobacco shop near the Pantheon and says she has taken to walking to work rather than riding a bus into the city center because it gets stuck in traffic. “And it’s not just in the center. There are an infinite number of construction sites all around Rome.”

Though she knows the discomfort will be worth it in the end, the end is still pretty far off. In addition to the Jubilee construction, there’s a longer-term, separate project to extend Rome’s Metro C subway line into Rome’s historic center which has encountered years of delays thanks to archaeological excavations of ancient Roman ruins that must be completed first.

For the next four years at least, central Piazza Venezia and its Imperial Forum-flanked boulevard to the Colosseum are scheduled to be congested and blighted by giant, 14-meter-high green silos that are needed for the subway drilling operation.

“We’re upset, but we’re Romans, we’ll make do,” Cafini said.

Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said recently he was satisfied with the pace of the Jubilee works so far, noting that they got off to a months-delayed start due to the 2022 collapse of Premier Mario Dragi’s government.

But Gualtieri promised they would be completed on time. And in a nod to Romans and tourists who have suffered from the traffic chaos and acute shortage of taxis already, he promised that an extra 1,000 taxi licenses had been approved and would be in use by December.

Yet as of late last month, only two of the 231 city projects had been completed; 57 were under way and another 44 were expected to be started by the end of May, Gualtieri told reporters. Another 18 are up for bids, seven have been assigned, 90 are planned. Thirteen have been canceled.

“We have recovered a lot from the initial delay,” Gualtieri told the foreign press association, adding that he expected the “essential” projects to be completed on time. Other projects were always planned to take longer than the Jubilee but were lumped into the overall project to take advantage of the accelerated timeframe.

The most significant project, and one that has caused the greatest traffic disruption to date, is a new Vatican-area piazza and pedestrian zone connecting Castel St. Angelo with the Via della Conciliazione boulevard that leads to St. Peter’s Square.

Previously, a major thoroughfare divided the two landmarks, causing an unsightly and pedestrian-unfriendly barrier.

The new works call for a tunnel to divert the oncoming traffic underneath the new pedestrian piazza. But that project required re-routing and replacing a huge underground sewage system first, which has only recently been completed. Now crews are working through the night to try to complete the tunnel in time.
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Kenyan students plant bamboo to help offset huge trash dump next door

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NAIROBI, Kenya — Armed with gardening hoes while others cradled bamboo seedlings, students gathered outside their school in Kenya’s capital. They hoped the fully grown bamboo would help to filter filthy air from one of Africa’s largest trash dumps next door.

More than 100 bamboo plantings dot the ground around Dandora secondary school, which shares a name with the dumpsite that was declared full 23 years ago. Hundreds of trucks still drive in daily to dump more trash.

Allan Sila, 17, said sitting in his classroom is like studying in a smelly latrine.

Acrid smoke billowing from the burning of trash fills the air every morning, hindering visibility and leaving some students with respiratory issues.

“Asthma is a disease that is commonly known,” Sila said.

The school’s principal, Eutychus Maina, recalled being greeted by the smell and smoke when he was posted to the school last year. He knew he had to do something.

“My motivation for initiating the bamboo project in the school was to mitigate the effects of the dumpsite. It really pollutes the air that we breathe,” he said.

He said he researched online and came across the use of bamboo. He believes it will help reduce the cases of respiratory infections in the community.

The fast-growing bamboo has been promoted by the United Nations and others for its high uptake of carbon dioxide.

Aderiana Mbandi is an air quality research and policy expert at the United Nations Environment Program, based in Nairobi. She said the impact of air pollution is felt in all parts of the body including the brain, and the best way to reduce its effects is minimizing exposure.

The seedlings the students began planting last August are already nine feet (three meters) tall. The giant bamboo variety is expected to reach 40 feet when mature, depending on soil conditions.

Students hope the bamboo will help transform the school compound into a green haven in the litter-strewn Dandora neighborhood.

The publicly funded school relies on donations to afford the seedlings that retail at 400 Kenyan shillings ($3) each.

But the school management is determined to keep going until bamboo lines the 900-meter wall that separates the school and the dumpsite.

The Dandora dump occupies about 50 hectares (123 acres) of land and receives more than 2,000 tons of waste daily from around Nairobi, home to 4 million people.

Its stench can be smelled kilometers (miles) away.

UNEP, in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute, deployed sensors to the Dandora neighborhood from October to April to monitor pollution levels from the dumpsite.

Out of the 166 days monitored, only 12 had a daily average of excellent air quality according to World Health Organization guidelines.

Nairobi’s air is also polluted by emissions from secondhand cars that make up much of the city’s transport. Other pollutants include smoke from industries that are often located near residential areas.

The Dandora school is also planting trees including jacaranda and grevillea.

Student Josiah Nyamwata called them easy to obtain and easy to plant. “The other advantage is that the trees will be helpful in order to boost our air circulation around our school,” he said.

The air isn’t the school’s ‘ only challenge. Vultures from the dumpsite are a nuisance at mealtimes. Students guard their plates from being snatched.
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Sherpa guide scales Mount Everest for 29th time, extending his own record

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KATHMANDU, Nepal — One of greatest climbing guides on Mount Everest has scaled the world’s highest peak for the 29th time, extending his own record for most times to the summit, expedition organizers said Sunday.

Kami Rita reached the 8,849-meter peak at 7:25 a.m. local time Sunday along with other climbers, said Mingma Sherpa of the expedition organizer Seven Summits Treks. He was reported in good health and already on the way down to lower camps.

Kami Rita had climbed Mount Everest twice last year, setting the record for most climbs on the first and adding to it less than a week later.

He and fellow Sherpa guide Pasang Dawa have been competing with each other for the title of most climbs of the world’s highest peak. Pasang Dawa has 27 successful ascents of the mountain.

Kami Rita first climbed Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success each year of foreign climbers who seek to stand on top of the mountain.

His father was among the first Sherpa guides. In addition to his Everest climbs, Kami Rita has scaled several other peaks that are among the world’s highest, including K2, Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.

Mingma Sherpa said the weather on the mountain was good and favorable for climbing to the summit.

The first set of climbers reached Everest’s summit just a few days ago and there are hundreds more who will be attempting to get up the mountain this month.

Nepalese authorities have issued hundreds of climbing permits to foreign climbers, At least as many local Sherpa guides will be accompanying them during the climbing season.
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Concern about Russia dominates as Lithuanians vote

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Vilnius, Lithuania — Lithuania votes Sunday in a presidential election dominated by security concerns with the main candidates all agreed the NATO and EU member should boost defense spending to counter the perceived threat from neighboring Russia.

The Baltic state of 2.8 million people fears it could be next in Russia’s crosshairs if Moscow wins its war against Ukraine, which began with an invasion in 2022.

While the top three contenders agree on defense, they have diverging views on social issues and on Lithuania’s relations with China, which have been strained for years over Taiwan.

“Lithuania’s understanding of the Russian threat is unanimous and unquestionable, so the main candidates are following suit,” Eastern Europe Studies Centre director Linas Kojala told AFP.

Polls close at 1700 GMT and the result is expected later on Sunday — although a runoff on May 26 will probably be needed as no candidate is expected to win an overall majority.

Opinion polls give the incumbent, 59-year-old former banker Gitanas Nauseda, a comfortable lead over the other seven candidates, who include Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and prominent lawyer Ignas Vegele.

The Lithuanian president steers defense and foreign policy, attending EU and NATO summits, but must consult with the government and Parliament on appointing the most senior officials.

Lithuania, a former Soviet republic, is a top donor to Ukraine and a big defense spender, with a military budget currently equal to 2.75% of gross domestic product.

Defense budget

The Simonyte-led government is expected to come forward with proposals within several weeks that could help increase defense spending even further to 3%.

Lithuania notably intends to use the funds to purchase tanks and additional air defense systems, and to host a German brigade, as Berlin plans to complete the stationing of around 5,000 troops by 2027.

None of the top candidates appear to question these plans, but Vegele has pledged to ask for a defense audit to effectively manage finances if he is elected.

Nauseda is projected to receive more than 35% of the vote in the first round, according to the latest opinion poll, and is expected to prevail in any eventual runoff.

Vegele, a 48-year-old lawyer who gained prominence after speaking out against mandated vaccination during the pandemic, presents himself as an alternative to established politicians and vows more transparent governance.

Simonyte, 49, is a fiscal conservative with liberal views on social issues. She notably supports same-sex partnerships, which still stir controversy in the predominantly Catholic country.

Simonyte is running for president for a second time after losing to Nauseda in a runoff in 2019.

“Simonyte is supported by conservative party voters and liberal people, while Nauseda is a candidate of the left in terms of economic and social policy,” Vilnius University analyst Ramunas Vilpisauskas told AFP.

Meanwhile, “Vegele will get support from those who simply want change,” he added.

Tensions over Taiwan

The uneasy relationship between Nauseda and his rival Simonyte’s ruling conservatives has at times triggered foreign policy debates, most notably on Lithuania’s relations with China.

Bilateral ties turned tense in 2021, when Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy under the island’s name in a departure from the common diplomatic practice of using the name of the capital Taipei to avoid angering Beijing.

China, which considers Taiwan a part of its territory and bristles at support for the island that might lend it any sense of international legitimacy, downgraded diplomatic relations with Vilnius and blocked its exports.

This sparked controversy among Lithuanian politicians, with some urging a restoration of relations for the sake of the Lithuanian economy.

“China’s reaction to the opening of the office was harsher than predicted, and that sparked the debate,” Kojala said, adding that China’s response was hurting local businesses. 
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Canadian police arrest fourth man in murder of Sikh leader Nijjar

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TORONTO — A fourth person has been arrested and charged with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, Canadian police said on Saturday, in a case that strained diplomatic relations with India.

Canadian police earlier this month arrested and charged three Indian men in the city of Edmonton in Alberta and said they were investigating whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced Saturday that Amandeep Singh, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjar’s killing.

Singh, an Indian national who resided in Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, was already in custody for unrelated firearms charges out of Peel, Ontario, IHIT said.

Nijjar, 45, was shot to death in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited what he said was evidence of potential Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.

Nijjar was a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India. The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated New Delhi, which had labeled Nijjar a terrorist. 
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Switzerland wins Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with Nemo’s ‘The Code’

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MALMO, Sweden — Switzerland won the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 on Saturday in the Swedish host city Malmo, beating runner-up Croatia.  

Billed as a feel-good celebration of European diversity, this year’s contest was thrust into the political spotlight with calls for Israel to be excluded because of its military campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7 in Israel.  

Swiss rapper and singer Nemo, 24, won the contest with “The Code,” a drum-and-bass, opera, rap and rock song about Nemo’s journey of self-discovery as a non-binary person. 

“I hope this contest can live up to its promise and continue to stand for peace and dignity for every person in this world,” Nemo said, after receiving the Eurovision trophy on stage. 

“To know that a song that has changed my life and a song where I just speak about my story has touched so many people and maybe inspired other people to stay true to their story is the most insane thing that has ever happened to me,” Nemo said later during a press conference. 

Swiss sing along

Cheers of joy broke out in bars in central Zurich when the winner was announced, and Swiss revelers sang along as Nemo tore through a victory rendition of “The Code.” 

“I think it’s just great, Nemo is fantastic,” said Maha Nater, a 24-year-old kindergarten worker celebrating the win after watching the marathon contest. 

One karaoke bar began blasting out Queen’s “We Are The Champions” as patrons joined in. 

Nemo’s victory would blaze a trail for others who had had to cope with prejudice against non-binary people, Nater said. 

“It sets an example to follow,” she said. 

Croatia places second

Croatia’s Baby Lasagna, real name Marko Purisic, 28, came second with “Rim Tim Tagi Dim,” a song about a young man who leaves home aspiring to become a “city boy” with better opportunities. 

Israel’s Eden Golan, 20, finished fifth in the contest despite demonstrators’ calls for a boycott of the country. 

The female solo artist on Thursday emerged as one of the leading contenders to win after qualifying for the final. 

Booing was heard during Golan’s performance but also applause, a Reuters photographer in the auditorium said. The noise was partly audible in the broadcast viewed by tens of millions of people in Europe and around the world. 

There was also booing when the points of the Israeli jury were presented. 

Protesters claim Eurovision supports genocide

Several thousand protesters gathered in central Malmo ahead of Saturday’s final, waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Eurovision united by genocide,”  The contest’s official slogan is “United by music.” 

A few hundred people later also protested outside the venue, chanting “Eurovision, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide.” 

Protesters have been pointing to double standards as the European Broadcasting Union banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 because of its invasion of Ukraine. 

Police hauled away some protesters before surrounding them and ushering them away, a Reuters reporter outside the arena said. Some protesters were seen lying on the ground after police used pepper spray to disband the demonstration. 

25 countries compete

Twenty-five countries competed in the final after Dutch artist Joost Klein was expelled earlier on Saturday because of a complaint filed by a production crew member. 

Viewer votes made up half of Saturday’s final result, while juries of five music professionals in each participating country made up the other half. 

The Eurovision winner is awarded the contest’s official glass trophy, which is shaped like a classic, old-fashioned microphone, with sand blasted and painted details. The winner also gets to host the competition the following year. 

Nemo broke the fragile prize shortly after receiving it but was given a new one to replace it. 

“I didn’t just break the code, I also broke the trophy,” Nemo said, laughing, at the press conference after the win. 
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Sudan’s military fends off attack by paramilitary forces on el-Fasher

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cairo — Sudan’s military and allied armed groups have staved off an attack by a paramilitary group and Arab militias on a major city in the western region of Darfur, officials and residents said Saturday. 

The attack Friday was the latest by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces against el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, where hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering, many of them having fled fighting elsewhere in Darfur. 

The RSF, which has been at war with the military for more than a year, has built forces up in recent months to wrestle control of el-Fasher, the last city still held by the military in the sprawling Darfur region. 

Sudan’s conflict began in April last year when soaring tensions between the leaders of the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum and elsewhere in the country. 

The conflict wrecked the country and pushed its population to the brink of famine. It killed more than 14,000 people and wounded thousands more amid reports of widespread sexual violence and other atrocities that rights groups say amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

Darfur witnessed some of the worst atrocities in the war, with the RSF taking control of many cities and towns across the region. Human Rights Watch said in a report last week that RSF attacks constituted a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the region’s non-Arab population. 

The RSF and their allies launched the attack on el-Fasher’s eastern side early Friday and clashed with military forces and other armed groups defending the city, said resident Amany Mohamed. She said the military and allied forces have repelled the attack. 

“Yesterday was a very difficult day,” she said over the phone Saturday. “There were fierce clashes that lasted for six hours.” 

‘The situation is catastrophic’

Another resident and activist, Ibtisam al-Doum, fled with her family to a school-turned-shelter on the southern side of the city during heavy fighting Friday. She said she saw hundreds of people escaping on foot to safer areas. 

“The situation is catastrophic. We don’t know when this will end,” she said, speaking from the Jiser al-Jinan shelter. “What’s happening is senseless.” 

The military-led camp and the RSF blamed each other for initiating Friday’s fighting. 

Local media reported heavy clashes in parts of the city including its power planet. Footage on social media platforms showed army troops and allied forces celebrating and captured fighters in RSF uniform being paraded in the streets. 

“Reports of intensifying clashes in the city are deeply alarming,” Martin Griffiths, the United Nations relief chief, wrote on X and called for warning parties to de-escalate. “The people of Darfur need more food, not more fighting,” he said. 

Friday fighting displaces hundreds

The International Organization for Migration said the military launched airstrikes Saturday on the RSF positions in the northern and eastern parts of el-Fasher. It said Friday’s fighting had forced about 170 households, or about 800 people, from their homes. 

The United Nations last month said the RSF had encircled the city and warned an attack would have “devastating consequences” for its 800,000 people. 

The RSF and allied Arab militias have launched a series of attacks on el-Fasher and its surroundings in recent weeks, taking several villages on the northern side. 

Such attacks “resulted in horrific reports of violence, including sexual violence, children injured and killed, homes set on fire and destruction of critical civilian supplies and infrastructure,” Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, said earlier this month. 

“The fighting and growing fear of ethnically motivated violence has driven many families to overcrowded displacement camps such as Zamzam camp and informal gathering sites in and around el-Fasher city,” she said. 
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Chad deploys combat-ready troops as post-election violence spikes

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YAOUNDE, CAMEROON   — Chad says it has deployed combat-ready troops to stop armed attacks and maintain peace as the death toll increased to 12 people in post-election violence on Saturday. At least 90 people have sustained severe injuries in the capital, N’djamena. 

Chad state TV reports that keeping and using war weapons and firearms is prohibited until further notice by the central African state’s military. It noted the prohibition of weapons was imposed after 9 people were killed and upwards of 60 were injured in shootings in N’djamena on Thursday night, after provisional results of the May 6 presidential elections were announced.  

Chad’s police say three other injured victims died in two hospitals in N’djamena on Friday night. About 30 other civilians were injured in confrontations and shootings, and they were rushed to hospitals, where the government has ordered they be treated at no charge. 

Opposition and civil society say several hundred civilians who protested the May 6 presidential election results have been arrested and detained, especially in the capital city and in Moundou, Chad’s second-largest city. 

Chad’s elections management body, known as ANGE, has proclaimed transitional ruler General Mahamat Idriss Deby the winner, with more than 61% of the vote. His main challenger, Succes Masra, is second, scoring 18.53% of the vote. Masra claimed he won, but Deby stole his victory. 

Chad’s military said among the shooters were armed supporters celebrating Deby’s victory. They may have run into a confrontation with armed opposition supporters, Chad’s military said Saturday, noting that illegal arms proliferation is rampant in the central African state. 

Mbairamadji Desire, president of the N’djamena headquarters of the Rainbow Youth Association for Social Stability in Africa, said he is pleading with armed civilians to drop their weapons and spare Chad from looming civil strife.  

Mbairamadji said all Chadians, especially youths, should put down their weapons they are keeping illegally because peace is priceless. He warned that Chad could descend into worsening chaos because it is very difficult for its military to be effective on multiple fronts, including seizing weapons hidden in homes, fighting Boko Haram terrorists who are infiltrating the Lake Chad basin, and stopping violence between farmers and nomadic herders that has worsened all over Chad in recent years.

In a message after ANGE proclaimed the results, Deby said he is the democratically elected president of all Chadians, including opposition party leaders who are contesting his victory. Deby said he will do everything possible to strengthen Chad’s internal security to guarantee threatened peace and stability.  

Hussein Abdoulaye, a political analyst and lecturer at the University of Ndjamena, spoke with VOA via a messaging app from N’djamena.  

He said civilians are increasingly aware that Chad’s government has a tradition of rigging elections and using the military to crack down on the opposition, but that Chadians know their rights and may use violence if they think the opposition was deprived unfairly of victory. 

In several messages shared on social media, including WhatsApp and Facebook, Masra is calling on civilians to calmly mobilize and demonstrate peacefully for what he calls his stolen victory to be restored.  

Chad’s government and the elections body say candidates have five days from the date of publication of provisional results to file complaints at the constitutional council. 

 

The action could cancel the elections if it establishes that there was massive fraud, including stuffing of ballot boxes and intimidation of civilians at polling stations as the opposition claims. 

 

Definitive results are scheduled to be declared by Chad’s Constitutional Council on May 21. 
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