Month: May 2024

Rafael Nadal loses in French Open’s first round to Alexander Zverev

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PARIS — Rafael Nadal lost in the first round of the French Open to Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Monday in what might turn out to be the 14-time Roland Garros champion’s last match at his favorite tournament. 

Nadal has indicated 2024 likely would be his last season before retirement, but he said Saturday that he is not 100% sure he won’t play again at the French Open. And he reiterated that after Monday’s defeat, only his fourth in 116 career matches at the place. 

When it ended, in anticlimactic fashion, with 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal simply unable to play at his usual level after 1 1/2 years of hip and abdominal injuries, he thanked the raucous Court Philippe Chatrier crowd, saying was it “incredible the amount of energy” it provided throughout the 3 hours, 5 minutes of play. 

“It’s difficult for me to talk. I don’t know (if) it’s going to be the last time I am here. I am not 100% sure,” said Nadal, whose 1 1/2-year-old son, Rafael Jr., sat on his mother’s lap in the stands. “If it’s the last time, I enjoyed it.” 

It is the first time in his long and illustrious career that Nadal has been beaten in two consecutive matches on clay courts and the first time he has dropped a match earlier than the fourth round at the French Open. 

The match was played with the retractable roof shut, and the loud chants of “Ra-fa!” from most in the capacity crowd of about 15,000 echoed. 

Nadal turns 38 on June 3 and he has been dealing with hip and abdominal injuries since January 2023, limiting him to 15 matches and an 8-7 record since the start of last year. His infrequent play dropped his ranking to No. 275 and he was unseeded for the French Open for the first time. 

That is why he ended up facing the No. 4-seeded Zverev, the runner-up at the 2020 U.S. Open, a gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics and the only man to reach the semifinals in Paris each of the past three years. 

Nadal’s other losses at Roland Garros came against Robin Soderling in 2010 and against Novak Djokovic in 2015 and 2021. 

“To be honest, I don’t know what to say. First of all: Thank you, Rafa, from all of the tennis world,” Zverev said. “It’s such a great honor. I’ve watched Rafa play all my childhood, and I was lucky enough to play Rafa when I became a professional. … Today is not my moment. It’s Rafa’s moment.” 

 
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China book corner set up at Kenya workers training institution

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Nairobi — Chinese authorities are setting up a China book corner in Kenya’s state training institutions, to provide Chinese literature, language resources and insights for scholars and students. But analysts say such a display of soft power is an effort to maintain Beijing’s influence on the continent.

At one school in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, more than 30 students are enrolled in part-time classes on Chinese language and culture. Steve Wakoli has been teaching the three-month course for three years.

Inspired by employment opportunities as a translator, Wakoli learned Chinese in 2020. Now a private teacher, he said Chinese literature is helping him earn a living.

”I did accounts as my bachelor’s degree, but it reached a point where everyone is doing accounts and others are doing finance. This is a field that was crowded, so I decided to go for something unique. I found that there were translation jobs, teaching jobs,” he said.

Kenyan authorities have begun to display Chinese literature to the public in places like the state workers training institute — the Kenya School of Government.

More than 100 books on governance, politics and development are showcased in the school’s library in what is called the “China Book Corner.”

Prisca Oluoch, the school’s director of linkages, collaborations and partnerships, said the books can help readers understand how China grows an economy.

”A lot of our books currently in our library are from American authors, from European authors. How about the East? How about China, Korea, Singapore? How did they do it?” Prisca said. “Having the China corner helps us to have that perspective to be able to also build, in terms of our own African leadership and management, drawing from the Chinese experience.”

According to a study by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a key pillar of China’s efforts to gain influence in Africa and globally is to create the impression of universal support for the Chinese Communist Party in a strategy known as the “united front.”

Historical relations between African countries like Kenya and the West or Europe can be unassailable for newcomers, but Beijing is taking advantage of its technological expertise to make inroads, said international relations professor Chacha Nyaigotti.

“African nations, which some of them were colonized by the French and others, British or English people, still cherish that network between the U.K. and commonwealth countries in Africa, and France with French speaking countries in Africa. But I think African[s] are being driven toward China mainly because China supports their infrastructural development,” Chacha said.

The books, authored by writers including China President Xi Jinping, were donated by the Chinese Embassy in Kenya. Some are translated into the Kenyan language, Swahili. Officials believe that with access to Chinese literature, the public can learn different economic methods which may help alleviate poverty.
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EU partners with Kenya to prosecute suspected maritime crime suspects

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Nairobi, Kenya — Kenya has agreed to help the European Union in dealing with maritime crime suspects in the region, amid a rising threat from pirate activity and attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The EU, which has a force operating in the Indian Ocean, is concerned that the insecurity which is also affecting ship traffic in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, is disrupting international trade.  

With threats to shipping on the rise in the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea, the European Union is asking Kenya for assistance in prosecuting suspected criminals caught in the region’s waters.

Henriette Geiger, the EU ambassador to Kenya, said the bloc is working with Kenya in dealing with suspected criminals caught in the region’s waters.

“Kenya would conclude a legal finished agreement with the European Union which would allow then EU Atalanta to drop, first seized arms, weapons but also traffickers, arms and drug traffickers, here for prosecution,” she said. “Seychelles has already agreed, they already have a legal finished agreement, but it’s a small island; they cannot stand alone.”

The EU’s Operation Atalanta is a military operation in the Horn of Africa that counters piracy at sea.

Geiger explained that the EU navy force lacks the authority to prosecute suspects and cannot detain them for long without charges. Therefore, countries like Kenya are needed to assist in prosecuting suspects.

Isaiah Nakoru, the head of Kenya’s Department for Shipping and Maritime Affairs, says his country is ready to work on issues that promote security and the free flow of goods and people.  

“We have to work together to ensure that we achieve the aspiration for ensuring there is sustainability and security, and all activities that threaten the livelihoods of people and movements of people have to be addressed in partnership with all those who have a stake,” he said.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Kenya is holding at least 120 suspected pirates and has convicted 18 of them.  

Kenya faced criticism about whether its legal system allows the prosecution of suspected pirates accused of having committed crimes far away from its territory. However, in 2012, a Kenyan court ruled the East African nation has jurisdiction to try Somali pirates carrying out attacks in international waters.

Andrew Mwangura is a consultant on maritime safety and security in Kenya. More than ten years ago, he helped negotiate the release of some pirate captives. He says Kenya will always face legal challenges in prosecuting suspects who have not committed a crime in its territory.  

“The problem is still the same because there are challenges to prosecution in Kenya of the Somali pirates,” he said. “This pirate activity happens away from Kenya. They do not happen in Kenyan waters, and there will be legal challenges. To prosecute, to arrest them, that’s not a solution. The solution is to fight illegal fishing in East African territorial waters.”  

Recently, there have been reports of piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia, sparking worries about the return of Somali piracy. In the early 2010s, Somali pirates hijacked dozens of ships, holding them for millions of dollars in ransom.  

Two weeks ago, six suspected pirates accused of attacking a merchant vessel were moved from Somalia to the Seychelles for trial by the EU naval force. Last Friday, the EU force freed a merchant ship and its 17 crew members.
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Diplomat: Russia moving closer to delisting Afghanistan’s Taliban as terrorist group

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Islamabad — A senior Russian diplomat says Russia’s foreign and justice ministries have told President Vladimir Putin that Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban “can be removed” from the list of Moscow-designated terrorist organizations.

Zamir Kabulov, the special presidential envoy for Afghanistan, told state-run TASS news agency Monday that the delisting would enable Moscow to decide whether to recognize the Taliban government.

“Without this [removal of the ban on the Taliban], it will be premature to talk about recognition,” he was quoted as saying. “Therefore, work on this issue continues. All considerations have been reported to the top leadership of Russia. We are waiting for a decision.”

Separately, TASS quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying Monday that the Taliban is the “real power” in Afghanistan and that the group’s possible removal from Moscow’s list of banned organizations reflects “objective reality.”

Russia formally labeled the Taliban a terrorist organization in 2003, when the radical group was waging a deadly insurgency against the United States and allied troops in Afghanistan.

The insurgents stormed back to power on August 15, 2021, and established a men-only Taliban government as the U.S.-led foreign troops withdrew from Afghanistan.

No foreign country has formally recognized the Taliban as legitimate rulers, mainly due to human rights and terrorism-related concerns. However, several neighboring and regional countries, including Russia, have retained their embassies in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover and allowed the de facto government to run Afghan embassies on their respective soils.

Kabulov noted Monday that the Taliban had “come a long way towards being recognized” since seizing power. “But there are still a few hurdles to overcome, after which the Russian leadership will make a decision,” he said, without elaborating.

The Russian envoy was also quoted as saying Monday that his government had extended an invitation to the Taliban to attend a June 5-8 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The event, which once hosted top Western business leaders and investment bankers from London and New York, has changed significantly since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Moscow and the international community at large have been urging the Taliban to govern the war-torn South Asian nation through a politically inclusive government and remove bans on Afghan women’s access to education and work.

The hardline de facto rulers have rejected criticism of their governance as interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, saying their policies are aligned with local culture and Islamic law.

Russia has been developing ties with the Taliban for years and reportedly provided them with weapons while they were waging insurgent attacks on the U.S.-led foreign troops and their Afghan allies. Taliban officials say trade ties between Kabul and Moscow have rapidly grown over the past couple of years.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
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Unbowed, Ukrainian shop serves coffee just 8 kilometers from war’s front line

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In the city of Kupyansk in eastern Ukraine, a small coffee shop sits just 8 kilometers from the front lines. It opened last summer — the latest in a chain of coffee shops in the region. Despite the ongoing war, its owner says more are on the way. Anna Kosstutschenko met with him. VOA footage and video editing by Pavel Suhodolskiy.
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Life expectancy bouncing back globally after COVID pandemic

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Life expectancy in Europe has returned to the level it reached before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, while the U.S. is still trying to regain lost ground. Overall, new numbers show life expectancy has increased in most parts of the world, with eastern sub-Saharan Africa showing the biggest gains over the past three decades. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Attack on Pakistani outpost near Afghan border kills 5 soldiers, 5 militants

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ISLAMABAD — Heavily armed militants attacked a Pakistan security outpost near the border with Afghanistan early Monday, resulting in the deaths of five soldiers and five assailants in the ensuing firefight.

Security officials confirmed the deaths to VOA, saying the attack occurred in the remote Tirah valley in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and also resulted in injuries to six soldiers.

The Pakistani military’s media wing did not immediately respond to a request from VOA for comment on the attack in the former militant stronghold on the Afghan border.

Militants allied with the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), released a statement claiming responsibility for staging the raid in Tirah.

The deadly attack came a day after the Pakistani military reported that a counterterrorism raid near the provincial capital of Peshawar killed two Pakistani soldiers and five alleged “terrorists” believed to be linked to TTP. 

Sunday Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also renewed Islamabad’s demand for the Taliban government in Afghanistan to immediately stop TTP leaders and fighters from orchestrating cross-border terrorism from their alleged safe havens in the neighboring country.

Naqvi stated at a news conference that “if the TTP headquarters remain in Afghanistan” and no action is taken to dismantle them, it would become “very challenging” for Islamabad to improve relations with the de facto Kabul rulers.

“We want good relations with Afghanistan, but this is possible only if they do not allow their land to be used for terrorism against Pakistan,” Naqvi said. “But it is imperative (for the Taliban) that the individuals engaged in terrorism within their borders are apprehended, prosecuted, or surrendered to us.”

The minister also stated that TTP had planned and directed from Afghan sanctuaries a suicide car bombing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this past March that killed five Chinese engineers along with their Pakistani driver. The Chinese nationals were working on a major hydropower project in the province known as the Dasu Dam.

Naqvi said that the suicide bomber was an Afghan national, noting that Pakistani authorities have arrested 11 people in connection with the attack and plan to prosecute them soon.

The Taliban government rejects allegations TTP is operating out of their territory, saying they are not allowing anyone to use Afghan soil to threaten neighboring countries or beyond.

But skeptics question those assertions.

A recent United Nations report on the security situation in Afghanistan highlighted the Taliban’s continued close ties to al-Qaida operatives, saying the terrorist network has established new training camps in the country and is facilitating TTP to conduct cross-border attacks against Pakistan. 

 
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NATO chief: countries should reconsider restricting Ukraine’s use of military aid in strikes against Russia 

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US philanthropist builds homes for displaced Ukrainians

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Since the spring 2022, Dell Loy Hansen has spent over $70 million to build homes for internally displaced Ukrainians. The U.S. philanthropist says he has been to Ukraine four times and is just getting started. Anna Kosstutschenko met him in the Kyiv region and has more in this report.
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123 people killed in fighting in Sudan’s el-Fasher, aid group says

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Cairo — More than two weeks of fighting between Sudan’s military and a notorious paramilitary group over a major city in the western Darfur region killed at least 123 people, an international aid group said Sunday.

The fighting in el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, also wounded more than 930 people in the same period, Doctors without Borders said. 

“This is a sign of the violent intensity of the fighting,” the group said. “We urge the warring parties to do more to protect civilians.”

Clashes between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalated earlier this month in the city, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

El-Fasher has become the center of the conflict between the military and the RSF, which is aided by Arab militias commonly known as Janjaweed. The city is the last stronghold 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 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.

It also pushed the country’s population to the brink of famine. The U.N. food agency warned the warring parties earlier this month that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they don’t allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.

The RSF has built up forces in recent months seeking to wrest control of el-Fasher. Along with its Arab militia allies, the RSF besieged the city and launched a major attack on its southern and eastern parts earlier this month.

The clashes renewed Thursday in the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people in the Salam neighborhood in the city’s northern part, as well as its southern western parts, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration reported.

On Saturday, a shell hit the house of a Doctors Without Borders aid worker close to the city’s main market, killing the worker, the charity said.

The U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami blasted the “tragic” killing. The aid worker was not identified.

Nkweta-Salami urged warring parties to stop fighting in the city where “hundreds of thousands of women, men, and children in North Darfur are once again caught in the crossfire of war.”

“A human tragedy of epic proportions is on the horizon, but it can, and must, be prevented,” she said.
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Georgian PM, president trade criticism over media freedom law

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Tbilisi, Georgia — The president and prime minister of Georgia on Sunday lashed out at each other at a ceremony marking the country’s independence day as strong tensions persist over a law that critics say will obstruct media freedom and damage Georgia’s bid to join the European Union.

The measure would require media and nongovernmental organizations to register as “carrying out the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their budget from abroad. Opponents denounce it as “the Russian law” because of similar regulations there.

Large protests have repeatedly been held in the capital Tbilisi as the measure made its way through parliament. After the legislature passed the bill, President Salome Zourabichvili vetoed it on May 18, but the Georgian Dream party of Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and its backers have enough votes in parliament to override the veto.

“As the specter of Russia looms over us, partnership and rapprochement with Europe are the true path to preserving and strengthening our independence and peace. Those who sabotage and undermine this path trample upon and damage the peaceful and secure future of our country, hindering the path towards becoming a full member of the free and democratic world,” Zourabichvili said at the ceremony celebrating the 106th anniversary of Georgia’s declaration of independence from Russia.

At the same ceremony, Kobakhidze lauded Georgia’s development and sharply criticized Zourabichvili.

“It was the unity and reasonable steps of the people and their elected government that gave us the opportunity to maintain peace in the country for the past two years despite existential threats and multiple betrayals, including the betrayal of the president of Georgia,” he said.

In the evening, thousands of opponents of the measure marched along one of the main avenues of the capital. Some previous demonstrations against the law have brought clashes between protesters and police.

The European Union’s foreign policy arm has said “the adoption of this law negatively impacts Georgia’s progress on the EU path.” Critics say it may have been driven by Russia to thwart Georgia’s chances of further integrating with the West.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday that travel bans would be imposed on Georgian officials “who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia” and “it remains our hope that Georgia’s leaders will reconsider the draft law and take steps to move forward with their nation’s democratic and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.”
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Lithuania’s Nauseda calls victory in presidential election

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Vilnius, Lithuania — Lithuania’s Gitanas Nauseda announced his reelection in a presidential ballot on Sunday, following a campaign dominated by security concerns in the European Union and NATO member next door to Russia.

The Baltic nation of 2.8 million people has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion. Like other countries in the region, it worries it could be Moscow’s next target.

Ballots from nearly 90% of polling stations showed Nauseda, 60, winning roughly three quarters of the vote, followed by Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, 49, from the ruling center-right Homeland Union party.

If confirmed by final results, Nauseda’s backing in his bid for a second term will be highest in the country since it split from the Soviet Union in 1991.

A former senior economist with Swedish banking group SEB who is not affiliated with any party, Nauseda won the first round of the election on May 12 with 44% of the votes, short of the 50% he needed for an outright victory.

Just over half of Lithuanians believe a Russian attack is possible or even very likely, according to a ELTA/Baltijos Tyrimai poll conducted between February and March. Russia has regularly dismissed concerns that it might attack a NATO member.

Nauseda told jubilant supporters in the capital Vilnius that he will continue working on the country’s defense capabilities.

“Lithuanian independence and freedom is like a fragile vessel which we need to cherish and keep from cracking,” he said.

Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defense spending to at least 3% of Lithuania’s gross domestic product, from the 2.75% planned for this year.

But Nauseda, who is a social conservative, has clashed with Simonyte on other issues, including whether to give a legal recognition to same-sex civil partnerships, which Nauseda opposes.

He has said it would make such unions too similar to marriage, which Lithuania’s constitution only allows between a man and a woman.

Simonyte, a former finance minister and a fiscal hawk, said on Thursday that if she won, “the direction for the country – pro-European, pro-Western – would not change.”

“But I would like quicker progress, more openness and understanding, larger tolerance to people who are different from us,” she said.

Lithuania’s president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces, chairing the supreme defense and national security policy body and representing the country at EU and NATO summits.

The president sets foreign and security policy in tandem with the government, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defense and the head of the central bank.
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Putin arrives in Uzbekistan on 3rd foreign trip of his new term

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Moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Sunday in the capital of Uzbekistan where he is to hold talks with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev that are expected to focus on deepening the countries’ relations.

Putin laid a wreath at a monument to Uzbekistan’s independence in Tashkent and held what the Kremlin said were informal talks with Mirziyoyev. The formal meeting of the presidents is to take place Monday.

The visit is Putin’s third foreign trip since being inaugurated for a fifth term in May. He first went to China, where he expressed appreciation for China’s proposals for talks to end the conflict in Ukraine, and later to Belarus where Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons.

Ahead of the Uzbekistan trip, Putin and Mirziyoyev discussed an array of bilateral cooperation issues, including trade and economic relations, the Kremlin said.
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South Africa’s main opposition party rallies support as it concludes election campaign 

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JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s main opposition party Democratic Alliance on Sunday made its final appeal to South Africans to help it unseat the ruling African National Congress as it concluded its campaign ahead of elections this week.

The Democratic Alliance is the biggest opposition party in South Africa and has gathered some smaller opposition parties to form a pact known as the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa, which will see a group of political parties combine their votes to challenge the ruling ANC after the elections.

Sunday’s rally coincided with that of the smaller opposition Inkatha Freedom Party, which has the populous KwaZulu Natal province as its stronghold and has committed to work with the main opposition.

Recent polls and analysts have suggested the ANC could receive less than 50% of the national vote. The Democratic Alliance is under pressure after its support declined in the last national elections and a number of its former leaders left the party to form new political parties that will be competing in the polls.

Its leaders and supporters came out in the thousands Sunday in Benoni, east of Johannesburg, where its blue colored flags and party memorabilia decorated a small stadium in the town.

“Make no mistake, if DA voters stay at home, or they split the vote among many small parties on the ballot, then our country’s next chapter could be even uglier than the past,” said party leader John Steenhuisen.

“If we sit back and allow a coalition between the ANC, the [Economic Freedom Fighters] and the [uMkhonto weSizwe], aided by the sell-outs in the Patriotic Alliance, then our tomorrow will be far, far worse than yesterday. It will be doomsday for South Africa,” he said to loud applause.

A coalition between the DA and other parties including the Patriotic Alliance in the Johannesburg council after the 2021 local government elections collapsed, handing power back to an ANC-led coalition and resulting in political animosity between the two parties.

Steenhuisen has repeatedly accused the ruling ANC and the leftist opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters of planning to go into coalition after the elections.

Speaking ahead of its final rally in the city of Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Velenkosini Hlabisa said their main objective was to see the current government removed.

“The IFP is campaigning to remove the ANC from power and become part of the government at a policy making level and also cut the ANC to below 50% at national level.

“We are calling on people to take action and vote IFP to remove the government that has failed them,” said Hlabisa.

He said most negotiations would take place after the results were in. Hlabisa highlighted unemployment, poverty, crime and the country’s electricity crisis as some of the major problems South Africans are facing.

“We all know the crisis we are facing, we all know the depth of the struggle in South Africa and the daily trauma so many people endure. What the country needs to hear is that there is a way out,” he said.
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