In a high-profile free speech case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a school can’t regulate most off-campus speech by its students. In its 8-1 ruling, the court said, “While public schools may have a special interest in regulating some off-campus student speech, the special interests offered by the school are not sufficient to overcome B.L.’s interest in free expression in this case.”The case stems from the actions of former Pennsylvania high school cheerleader Brandi Levy, who lashed out at her school on Snapchat on a Saturday in 2017 after not making the varsity team.Using coarse language, she expressed her disdain for school, cheerleading, softball and “everything.”In response, her school said she’d violated the code of conduct and suspended her from cheerleading for a year.Justice Stepen Breyer, writing for the majority, however, said a school could intervene in some cases, such as speech that involves bullying or threats to teachers or students.Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.School district’s positionThe Mahanoy Area School District in which Levy was enrolled argued that with the spread of technology and the prevalence of remote learning brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the lines between on-campus and off-campus speech had been blurred.Levy’s parents asked her school to lift the suspension, but when it refused, they filed a federal lawsuit saying the school was violating their daughter’s free-speech rights. A federal court in Pennsylvania ruled in favor of the parents as did the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said students “have the right to find their voices without being unduly chilled,” adding that “government may not penalize speech because listeners find it offensive or even disagreeable.”Levy, who is now in college, said she’d sent the message to vent her frustration.”I was a 14-year-old kid expressing my feelings and that’s how kids do it, over social media,” she said, NBC News reported.
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Month: June 2021
Somalia’s First Female Taekwondo Athlete to Compete in Tokyo
With the Olympics in Tokyo now just a month away, Somalia is set to send its first female taekwondo athlete to the games in Japan.
No athlete representing Somalia has ever a won a medal at the Olympics, but 20-year-old Munirah Warsame is working hard to be the first when she competes at the summer games.
The taekwondo athlete was born in Britain after her parents fled violence in Somalia.
Warsame says flying the flag of her home country in Japan will be a proud moment.
“Feelings of representing my country in the Olympics for the first time is unreal as I have dreamed about this my whole life since literally the age of six when I first started Taekwondo. And also it is such an exciting experience; I foresaw it representing my home country for my first at the Olympics and, inshallah (God willing), I will do myself and my country proud,” Warsame said.
According to the Somali Olympics committee, at least six athletes will represent the country in Tokyo in three categories: taekwondo, boxing, and track and field.
Taekwondo coach Dudley Ricardo says his team is very well prepared despite its financial challenges.
“The potential of the Somali national team is looking quite bright and promising. I believe we have a small but strong current team with up-and-coming young team members and we will be able to see much more results in future competitions. The only restraints we have is funding to allow the athletes’ valuable ring time and more competitions and training camps,” Ricardo said.
Taekwondo is not a well-known sport in Somalia. But Ahmed Issa, the vice president of the Somali Taekwondo Federation says it is conducting and outreach and awareness campaign in the country to find more capable athletes like Warsame who could represent Somalia in international competitions.
“[The] Somali taekwondo federation is planning to recruit more youth to take the sport especially in universities, colleges, and schools. We try to do our free training sessions and hire special coaches from the international level so people are really interested to be part of [the] taekwondo sport,” Issa said.
More than 11,000 athletes from around the world are expected to participate in the Tokyo games, which were rescheduled from last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Ethiopia Vote Concludes Amid Fresh Violence in Tigray
Long before sunrise on June 21, 2021, Ethiopians in the capital queued to vote in the country’s first election in six years. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said it would be the country’s “first attempt at a free and fair election.” “I came early to vote for whom I believe will bring us a bright future,” said Tenaye Melkamu, wearing a pink knit hat and thick scarf. Now, officials are tallying the ballots in the prime minister’s first electoral contest after more than three years in office. And as the country awaits results, the northern Tigray region is once again plagued by violence as it approaches eight months of war.Ethiopian officials said voting was finishing and preliminary results would be known in five days, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 22, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)”No one is moving now,” one young man told VOA from his home in Tigray, after describing a day and a half of chaos and fear. He cannot be named for security reasons. Three different militaries have controlled his town in the past two days, where several houses have been destroyed and three people have been killed, he said. In another part of Tigray, witnesses reported a bomb dropped by a plane killed dozens of people and wounded dozens more, according to Reuters news. The road to the regional capital, Mekelle, is also closed, preventing wounded patients from reaching the main hospital. Many voters arrived at polling stations before the 6 a.m. start time, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 21, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)In the capital, Addis Ababa, the roads were calm and people seemed somewhat relieved on Wednesday. Voting had been tense with many people waiting long hours because of missing ballots and election workers. By Monday night, after the polls were supposed to close, millions of would-be voters were still waiting to cast their ballots across several regions. “I’m exhausted,” said Eden Hagos, a voter in central Addis Ababa, after waiting for about 10 hours on Monday evening. “Maybe I will go without voting. I have two children who have been at home all day.” Not voting But by Tuesday evening, officials said almost all of Ethiopia’s polling stations that had opened had finished accepting ballots. Preliminary results are expected within the coming days. About a fifth of country’s 547 parliamentary constituencies, however, were not voting. Opposition leaders said the election had hundreds of irregularities, such as missing ballots and, in some places, monitors being intimidated, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 21, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)The ballot was postponed in some areas for security reasons. In the Oromia region, two major opposition parties boycotted the election; in Tigray, there is no plan to reschedule the poll. “We already voted for our leaders,” said Belay Abera, a 67-year-old farmer who fled his home in Tigray at the beginning of the war. He was referring to local elections in 2020 when Tigrayans voted in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Tensions quickly escalated in the region as the government declared the Tigray election illegal, and soon war broke out. The government has since designated the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for almost two decades until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was appointed in 2018, as a terrorist organization. Many voters said they were hopeful this election would turn out to be more free and fair than any previous Ethiopian elections, in Addis Ababa, June 21, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)Postponed elections are expected to take place in September, but analysts say the war needs to be resolved before an election can be held in Tigray. “Of course, the people have the right to be represented, said Kiya Tsegaye, a lawyer and political analyst. “At the end of the day these people are part of Ethiopia and they have to see their representatives in the Ethiopian federal parliament.” However, he says, the 38 unfilled seats for Tigray are not enough to skew the electoral math, and he believes a government will be formed after results are announced. Many voters across the country waited long hours to cast their ballots, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 21, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)The conflict in Tigray has displaced about two million people and forced tens of thousands to flee the country. The African Union is investigating allegations of mass murders and rapes. Aid organizations say parts of the region are suffering from famine and millions of people are in danger of starvation. “The situation is set to get worse in the coming months, not only in Tigray, but in Afar and Amhara, as well,” said United Nations aid chief Mark Lowcock, after informing colleagues that famine was already under way in Tigray. Future of government On Monday, Abiy spoke to reporters at the polls, saying, “You can see how it is a free and fair election … I hope it will be the best election in our history.” “There is no hunger in Tigray,” he said, adding: “There’s a problem in Tigray and the government is capable of fixing that.” Dr. Tawfik Abdullahi, a former ambassador and current parliamentary candidate, says the economy and security are the main issues on Ethiopian voters’ minds, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 22, 2021. (VOA/Yan Boechat)Abiy is widely expected to retain his seat after results are announced, and many voters say they have high hopes for his coming years as in office. All voters interviewed — regardless of who they supported — said the country needs peace and financial stability. “The problems we have are economical, which is inflation — two-digit inflation,” explained Dr. Tawfik Abdullahi, a former ambassador and current parliamentary candidate with the ruling Prosperity Party. “We have unemployed youth. We should strive to systematically and continuously create job opportunities. So, for this we need peace and tranquility.”
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Myanmar’s Junta Leader Attends Military Conference in Moscow
The leader of Myanmar’s military junta on Wednesday attended an international conference in Moscow, an appearance that reflected Russia’s eagerness to develop ties with it despite international opprobrium.
The military in Myanmar ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, saying her party’s landslide victory in elections last November resulted from massive voter fraud. It has not produced credible evidence to back its claim.
Security forces have brutally suppressed widespread popular protests against the military takeover, killing hundreds of protesters and carrying out waves of arrests.
The junta’s leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, claimed in Wednesday’s speech at the conference organized by Russia’s Defense Ministry that it was trying to consolidate a democratic system in the country that has “degraded.”
On Tuesday, Min Aung Hlaing met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who hailed strong military cooperation between the countries.
“We pay special attention to this meeting as we see Myanmar as a time-tested strategic partner and a reliable ally in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region,” Shoigu said at the start of the meeting.
He added that “cooperation in the military and military-technical field is an important part of relations between Russia and Myanmar” and praised Min Aung Hlaing for strengthening the country’s military.
Shoigu said that Russia would work to expand ties with Myanmar based on “mutual understanding, respect and trust.”
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After Cameroon Government Ban from Western Regions, MSF Says Thousands Lack Healthcare
Medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says tens of thousands of people in Cameroon’s western regions have been deprived of lifesaving healthcare since December, when authorities stopped their services. Cameroon accused the aid group of being too close to anglophone separatists, which the group denies. Doctors Without Borders says over 1.4 million people in Cameroon’s restive western regions need humanitarian support, with access to healthcare extremely limited.The coordinator for the group’s operations in Central Africa, Emmanuel Lampaert, said that’s due to insecurity, lockdowns, and the targeting of health facilities.He said mortality among vulnerable groups, such as women and children, has increased, and the government’s suspension of their support since December has made the situation even worse.”Humanitarian and health needs have surges due to the armed violence and notably for the population and several hundreds of thousands of them who have to flee their houses, and who have barriers to access health care. Concretely speaking, this means suffering from malaria or diarrhea for children in the bush, women in labor who are unable to reach health facilities, people suffering from acute respiratory infections, women victims of sexual violence and so on,” said Lampaert.Cameroon’s government in 2020 accused Doctors Without Borders of being too close to separatists who are fighting to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French speaking country.Lampaert denied the accusation and said their only goal is to save lives.”Responding to urgent health needs is our mere and only concern. Viruses, bullets, and infections do not care which side of the crisis one is on and neither do the Doctors Without Borders. That is our DNA and that is the DNA of principled humanitarian medical action,” he said.When contacted by a reporter, Cameroon officials would not say when the aid group, known by its French initials MSF, might be allowed to resume work in the western regions.Cameroon’s health ministry last week reported about 30 percent of hospitals in the regions are no longer functioning due to separatist attacks.The health ministry said several hundred health care workers have fled the separatist conflict areas in the past month alone.Philip Ambe is a government health worker who fled flighting in the northwest town of Bafut last Sunday.Speaking from the town of Dschang, he said MSF’s work was professional and authorities should allow them to resume saving lives.”The government does not need to stay mute on this issue [over asking MSF to resume work] again. The situation is very pathetic. People can no longer live in the comfort of their bedrooms. People were kidnapped. Some are in the bush. It is moving from bad to worse. The only way out is dialogue so that things should come back to normal.”MSF was one of the few groups offering free emergency care to Cameroon’s northwest and southwest populations since 2018.MSF says community health workers it supported last year conducted over to 150,000 consultations for communities in both regions.And a free ambulance service it initiated transported over a thousand women in labor to hospitals.Violence erupted in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions in 2017 when teachers and lawyers protested alleged discrimination at the hands of the French-speaking majority.The military reacted with a crackdown and separatist groups took up arms, claiming that they were protecting civilians.The U.N. says 3,000 people have since been killed and more than 750,000 displaced both internally and to neighboring Nigeria.
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Poll: Many Democrats Want More US Support for Palestinians
A new poll on American attitudes toward a core conflict in the Middle East finds about half of Democrats want the U.S. to do more to support the Palestinians, showing that a growing rift among Democratic lawmakers is also reflected in the party’s base.The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds differences within both the Democratic and the Republican parties on the U.S. approach toward Israel and the Palestinians, with liberal Democrats wanting more support for the Palestinians and conservative Republicans seeking even greater support for the Israelis.The survey also examined Americans’ opinions on the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The survey was conducted about three weeks into a cease-fire following a devastating 11-day war last month between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Hamas militant rulers. The fighting killed at least 254 Palestinians and 13 people in Israel.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 15 MB540p | 20 MB720p | 42 MB1080p | 79 MBOriginal | 247 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioBlinken Appeals to Middle East Leaders to Support Gaza RecoveryThe poll shows Americans overall are divided over U.S. policy toward Israel and the Palestinians. It also shows more Americans disapprove of President Joe Biden’s approach to the conflict than approve of it.Among Democrats, 51% say the U.S. is not supportive enough of the Palestinians. The sentiment jumps to 62% among Democrats who describe themselves as liberal. On the other hand, 49% of Republicans say the U.S. is not supportive enough of the Israelis, a number that rises to 61% among those who say they’re conservative.Paul Spelce, a 26-year-old Democratic-leaning independent voter and supporter of Palestinian statehood, is a member of a heavily religious Texas Republican family whose support for Israel is ingrained with their Christian faith. Spelce, of Austin, says he followed news of last month’s Gaza war and the U.S. response closely on the radio as he helped deliver mail.”I started paying a lot more attention,” said Spelce, who said he disapproved of Biden’s handling of the conflict and thinks the United States is too supportive of Israelis and not supportive enough of the Palestinians. “I don’t think Biden’s word was that strong,” Spelce said. “And I don’t think, you know, this administration … can actually do anything” regarding the conflict.UN Human Rights Chief Suggests Israeli Strikes in Gaza May Amount to War Crimes Michele Bachelet also says Hamas rocket attacks on Israel violated humanitarian laws Overall, the poll shows that 29% of Americans say the U.S. is too supportive of the Israelis, 30% say it’s not supportive enough and 36% say it’s about right. In its approach toward the Palestinians, 25% say the U.S. is too supportive, 32% say it’s not supportive enough and 37% say it’s about right.Broad but not unvarying support for Israel has been a tenet of U.S. domestic politics, as well as its foreign policy, for decades. Biden refrained from publicly criticizing Israel over civilian deaths and waited until the last days of fighting last month to openly press Israel to wind down its airstrikes on heavily populated Gaza. The war highlighted differences among Democratic lawmakers and between some Democratic lawmakers and Biden on Israel policy. Dozens of Democrats in Congress called for Israel and Hamas to cease fire immediately, days before Biden openly did. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a progressive Vermont independent, urged the U.S. to be more even-handed in its approach to the conflict.The poll found 56% of Americans disapprove of the way Biden is handling the conflict, compared with 40% who approve. While 75% of Republicans disapprove of how Biden is handling the conflict, so do 35% of Democrats.”The new administration’s policies, its posture toward Israel, it’s totally different” to President Donald Trump’s, said ChrisTina Elliott, a 57-year-old Republican in the northeast Texas town of Atlanta. She said she disapproves of Biden’s approach to the conflict and thinks the U.S. should be more supportive of Israelis and less of Palestinians.”The Palestinians need to put just as much effort as Israel is” into peaceful relations, Elliott said, and added of Israel, “My God, they’re surrounded by enemies.”Israeli Missiles Destroy Gaza Building Housing Foreign Media OutletsAssociated Press says the ‘world will know less about’ escalating violence in Gaza because of attack on buildingForty-two percent of liberal Democrats say they disapprove of how Biden is handling the conflict, compared with 31% of moderate and conservative ones.That’s compared with just 9% of Democrats who disapproved of how Biden is handling his job in general. Overall, Biden’s job approval rating stands at 55%.Since the cease-fire, Israel has transitioned to a new government that says it wants to repair relations with Democrats and restore bipartisan support in the U.S. for Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, the former longtime prime minister, had openly challenged both Biden and President Barack Obama on U.S. policy in the Middle East and was seen as allying himself to Trump.Some of the respondents in the survey, both Democratic and Republican, cited the comparatively limited timespan of the war — in comparison, 50 days of fighting in 2014 killed more than 2,200 Palestinians and 73 people on the Israeli side — in saying they approved of Biden’s handling of the conflict.The poll also shows just 19% of Americans think the U.S. should play a major role in finding a solution to the conflict, while 50% say it should play a minor role and 28% say it should play no role. Democrats and Republicans are largely in agreement on the size of the U.S. role in the conflict.A majority of Americans, 57%, say they think there is a way for Israel and an independent Palestinian state to coexist peacefully, compared with 39% who say there is not a way. About 2 out of 3 Democrats think there is a way. Republicans are closely divided, with 50% saying there is and 45% saying there is not.Patrick Diehl, another Democratic-leaning independent, cited U.S. offers to help rebuild Gaza buildings leveled by Israeli airstrikes, “so, I guess, they can be destroyed again. This seems to me kind of hapless.””You know, we need a stronger position taken by the administration — pushing for actual change rather than continuation of this wretched situation,” said Diehl, 74, of Tucson, Arizona.
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Cameroon Widows Accuse Women of Enforcing Harmful Traditional Rituals
Several hundred Cameroonian widows gathered in the capital, Yaounde, to observe International Widows Day by protesting traditional practices that wives are expected to undergo when they lose their husbands.Cameroon’s minister of women’s empowerment and the family, Marie Therese Abena Ondoua, says traditional practices that violate the rights of widows are still practiced in parts of the country. Fifty-eight-year-old Njoukou Yebom is from Noun, a western administrative unit in Cameroon. Yebom says he regrets that he attempted to force his late younger brother’s 15-year-old wife marry him. Yebom says that in 2018, elders in the town of Foumban where Noun is located asked him to marry his 30-year-old late brother’s wife. He was told that if he refused to marry the woman, a stranger to their family would inherit his younger brother’s property and leave with his only son. Yebom says he threatened to kill her if she refused. Yebom’s sister-in-law reported him to the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment. He says he was arrested by the police and held in custody for attempting to steal property and threatening the girl’s life. Other rites include forcing women to sleep with the corpses of their late husbands and to drink water used in bathing the bodies as a sign they did not kill their spouses.Amy Banda, chair of Target Peace, an NGO that protects rights of widows, says her group wants women to stop enforcing harsh widowhood rites on peers who have lost their husbands. “An older widow who had shared her very painful experience with us and we were feeling very sorry for her, was inflicting the same pain on her late son’s wife,” Banda said. “You do not feel better when you inflict pain on another person because you suffered from that pain. It does not make you feel much better.” Francisca Moto, an officer in charge of the promotion and protection of the family at the women’s empowerment ministry, says harmful widowhood rites still persist in Cameroon because of illiteracy and the influence of men.”Those repugnant practices are attached to witchcraft and so people are afraid to part from them, that they may lose their children and that is why action has to continue,” Moto said. “The first thing in case of distress is psychosocial assistance. You need to talk with her so that she can regain her strength to face life. And then one of the most important things that the ministry does is to empower widows economically because most of them are poor.” The United Nations says it observes June 23 as International Widows Day, to draw attention to the voices and experiences of widows and to galvanize the unique support that they need.The U.N. says the loss of a partner is devastating and magnified by a long-term struggle for basic needs, human rights and dignity.
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US to Investigate Government-run Native American Boarding Schools
U.S. Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland said her department is launching an investigation into the more-than-150-year history of government-run American Indian boarding schools to “uncover the truth about the loss of human life and lasting consequences” of the schools.Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary and a former congresswoman from New Mexico, announced the investigation Tuesday during comments to the National Congress of American Indians, and then formally in a news release and a letter to other cabinet heads.Haaland noted that beginning with the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 and running through the 1960s, the U.S. enacted laws and policies establishing and supporting Indian boarding schools across the nation. Thousands of young native children were sent to the schools, and researchers say many were abused and never heard from again.Haaland said the schools were overseen by the Interior Department she now runs, and it is therefore appropriate the department carry out the investigation.She said, “At no time in history have the records or documentation of this policy been compiled or analyzed to determine the full scope of its reaches and effects. We must uncover the truth about the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of these schools.”Such boarding schools gained international attention earlier this year when indigenous tribal leaders in Canada, which had a similar policy, announced the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children at the site of the former Kamloops residential school for indigenous children. Canada carried out a full investigation into its schools through a truth and reconciliation commission.In its release, the Interior Department said Canada’s process inspired its investigation, with the goal of shedding light on the schools – where they were, who attended them – and to find any remains of children who may have died there.The department is scheduled to issue a final written report on the investigation in April of 2022.
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Indonesia Nears 2 Million COVID-19 Cases as Delta Variant Drives New Surge
The Delta COVID-19 variant first identified in India has spread quickly around the world and is now hitting Indonesia. Southeast Asia’s largest country now looks at another peak as it hits the 2 million mark in confirmed cases. VOA’s Ghita Permatasari reports. Ahadian Utama contributed to this reportCamera: Ahadian Utama
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Technology Barrier Hits COVID Inoculation Drive in Rural Areas
India’s technology driven vaccination initiative has raised concerns the country’s huge digital divide is making it difficult for many people to get inoculated, particularly in the nation’s vast countryside. While tech savvy, digitally aware city dwellers have managed to get shots, millions in rural areas are left behind because of a technology barrier. Anjana Pasricha has a report. Camera: Rakesh Kumar
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Explosion Outside Islamist Militant Group Leader’s Home Kills 3
At least three people have been killed and more than ten others injured in an explosion in Lahore, Pakistan, outside the house of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, a man linked to the 2008 attacks in the Indian city Mumbai that killed more than 170 people.
Saeed is the leader of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, or JuD, an Islamist militant group operating in South Asia. It was not immediately clear if Saeed was among the casualties. The explosion was powerful enough to damage nearby houses and several vehicles standing in nearby streets, witnesses said. According to VOA’s Urdu language service, police, members of a paramilitary force called the Rangers, the counterterrorism force, as well as Saeed’s personal security guards surrounded the house soon after the explosion. FILE – Members of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) survey the site after a deadly blast in residential area in Lahore, Pakistan, June 23, 2021.Eyewitnesses and journalists were told to move away and cell phone signals were jammed in the surroundings. Ghulam Mehmood Dogar, the head of police in Lahore said so far nothing could be said about the nature of the blast. “It could be a gas blast, it could be something else, but somebody has to make a final determination as an expert,” he said. Saeed is on both the United States and the United Nations lists of sanctioned individuals. He has been designated a terrorist by the U.S. Justice Department. “Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is the leader and chief of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT),” the FILE – In this Nov. 29, 2008 file picture, smoke billows from the landmark Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, India after an attack by gunmen.LeT is the group blamed for the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan’s neighbor India has long sought action against Saeed for his involvement in the attacks, but Pakistani courts have often given him relief citing lack of evidence. Last year, Pakistani courts convicted Saeed in several cases linked to terrorism financing. He was serving a sentence of five and a half years. The U.S. has offered a bounty of $10 million to anyone providing information that leads to Saeed’s conviction in the Mumbai attacks case.
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Libya Conference Focuses on Elections, Security
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Berlin for talks Wednesday with German leaders and to take part in a conference on Libya’s political future. Germany and the United Nations are hosting the Berlin conference, seeking to build on earlier efforts to bring about a lasting halt in fighting in Libya and support a stable government. ”We have an opportunity that we have not had in recent years to really help Libya move forward as a safe, secure, sovereign country,” Blinken said after a morning meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.Speaking to reporters alongside Maas, Blinken said there was consensus on what steps to take to best help Libya, mainly ensuring the implementation of a cease-fire and the departure of foreign forces from the country.U.S. Special Envoy for Libya Richard Norland told reporters Monday that the conference would provide momentum for steps that need to be taken soon for elections to be held in December, including establishing a constitutional and legal basis for the vote. WATCH: State Dept. correspondent Cindy Saine’s report Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 16 MB540p | 20 MB720p | 42 MBOriginal | 729 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioPolitical instability
Libya has experienced political instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi from power. Rival governments operated in separate parts of the country for years before a cease-fire deal in October that included a demand for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days, or about 3 months. “On the foreign forces, you’re quite right that forces have not departed yet, and our basic position is we should not wait until after the elections to try to make some progress on this goal,” Norland said. “One of the reasons elections are so important is so that a fully empowered, credible, legitimate Libyan government can turn to foreign actors and say, ‘It’s time to take your troops out.’” Norland said those attending the Berlin conference would also discuss “destabilizing actions by armed groups and terrorism,” citing recent attacks in Libya claims by Islamic State militants. Holocaust awareness
Blinken and Maas are due to reconvene Wednesday to focus on the need to counter those who are denying or distorting the Holocaust.Blinken said Tuesday they would discuss “how we can ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten.”U.S. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Cherrie Daniels told reporters Monday that promoting greater education about the Holocaust, its consequences and its origins will help government officials and the public “recognize modern manifestations of anti-Semitism and even other forms of hatred” and push back against them. “As knowledge of the Holocaust wanes, nefarious individuals, organizations, and occasionally governments engage in Holocaust denial and distortion for all manner of ends,” Daniels said. Islamic State
Defeating Islamic State will be the focus of another conference co-hosted by Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio as Blinken visits Rome on a later stop during his European trip. Blinken is also due to take part in a ministerial meeting in Italy concerning Syria and the humanitarian needs in that country.
The European trip also takes Blinken to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron, following up on U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent meetings with allies in the region to boost trans-Atlantic relations. “This is really an opportunity for Secretary Blinken to reiterate the president’s message and speak with our oldest ally about areas of cooperation, including global security, again, the pandemic’s — recovery from the pandemic, and repairing and modernizing our alliances,” Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker told reporters Monday. Blinken is also scheduled to visit the Vatican, where Reeker said the agenda for meetings includes combatting climate change and human trafficking.
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Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Newspaper Apple Daily to Cease Operations This Week
The parent company of Hong Kong pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper announced Wednesday that it will shut down the publication this week. Next Digital, owns Apple Daily and is one of the largest media company in Hong Kong, released a statement saying the final print and online editions of Apple Daily will be published no later than Saturday, June 26, citing “the current circumstances prevailing in Hong Kong.” Local news outlets say the Apple Daily’s final print edition will come out as soon as Thursday. Apple Daily and its 73-year-old publisher, Next Digital founder and owner Jimmy Lai, have been the target of Hong Kong authorities since China imposed a strict national security law last June in response to the massive and sometimes violent anti-government protests in 2019. The newspaper’s offices were raided last August after Lai was arrested at his house on suspicion of foreign collusion. The decision to shut down Apple Daily comes nearly a week after more than 500 police officers raided the newspaper’s offices and arrested its chief editor, Ryan Law, and four other executives with the newspaper and Next Digital. Authorities then froze $2.3 million of its assets, leaving the company unable to pay its staffers. Law and Chief Executive Officer Cheung Kim-hung have been charged with colluding with a foreign country and have been denied bail. Hong Kong authorities have cited dozens of articles published by Apple Daily it says violated the security law, which targets anyone authorities suspected of carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces. Reports out of Hong Kong say another Apple Daily staffer was arrested Wednesday. The staffer has been identified as the newspaper’s lead editorial writer and columnist. Hong Kong police issued a report saying a 55-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to collude with a foreign country or foreign forces. Lai is currently serving a 14-month prison sentence for taking part in separate unauthorized assemblies in 2019. His assets in Next Digital were frozen by the government last month. The announcement Wednesday of Apple Daily’s closure came as Tong Ying-kit, a 24-year-old Hong Kong man, became the first defendant to be tried under the city’s national security law.
Tong is charged with terrorism and inciting secession for displaying a flag on his motorbike that read “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a slogan popularized during the massive 2019 anti-government protests that prompted the new law. He faces life in prison if he is convicted.
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Eric Adams Takes Lead in New York City’s Democratic Mayoral Nominating Election
Former police officer Eric Adams was leading all candidates in Tuesday’s preliminary election to select the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor. With nearly 85% of all voting precincts reporting, Adams, the president of the city’s historic neighborhood of Brooklyn, emerged in first place out of 13 candidates with nearly 32% of those who voted in person or during the early voting period. Maya Wiley, a former civil rights attorney and top aide to outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio, was in second place with 22% of the vote, followed by former city sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia with over 19%. Tuesday’s preliminary election was the first to be conducted under the ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to choose up to five candidates in order of preference. With no candidate winning more than 50% of first-choice votes, the votes that went to the last-place candidate will be reallocated to the voters’ second choices.Supporters cheer during an election party for New York mayoral candidate Eric Adams, late Tuesday, June 22, 2021, in New York.The city’s Board of Elections will announce the first round of ranked-choice results on June 29, and will continue to release further results as absentee ballots are counted. The final results are expected to be announced sometime in mid-July. Adams, who could become the city’s second Black mayor, acknowledged late Tuesday night that it was too soon to declare outright victory. But he told a crowd of jubilant supporters “there’s something else we know — that New York City said our first choice is Eric Adams.” Adams campaigned on a platform of increasing police resources to combat the city’s surging crime rate as it begins its post-pandemic recovery period. Wiley gained support from the city’s more liberal elements when she proposed shifting some of the police department’s massive $6 billion budget to social services, while Garcia based her campaign on her previous experience in city government. Andrew Yang, the millionaire entrepreneur who attracted widespread support during his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and was considered a top contender in the mayoral race, conceded Tuesday after finishing in fourth place with nearly 12% of the vote. The eventual Democratic nominee will be the overwhelming favorite to win the November general election in the predominantly Democratic city. He or she will face Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels civilian patrol group and winner of Tuesday’s Republican nominating election.
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Blinken in Europe for Libya Conference
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Berlin for talks Tuesday with German leaders and to take part in a conference on Libya’s political future. Germany and the United Nations are hosting Wednesday’s Berlin conference, seeking to build on earlier efforts to bring about a lasting halt in fighting in Libya and support a stable government. U.S. Special Envoy for Libya Richard Norland said the talks would provide momentum for steps that need to be taken soon for elections to be held in December, including establishing a constitutional and legal basis for the vote. Norland told reporters Monday the conference will also feature an emphasis on foreign fighters leaving Libya. Libya has experienced political instability since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi from power. Rival governments operated in separate parts of the country for years before a cease-fire deal in October that included a demand for all foreign fighters and mercenaries to leave Libya within 90 days, or about 3 months. “On the foreign forces, you’re quite right that forces have not departed yet, and our basic position is we should not wait until after the elections to try to make some progress on this goal,” Norland said. “One of the reasons elections are so important is so that a fully empowered, credible, legitimate Libyan government can turn to foreign actors and say, ‘It’s time to take your troops out.'”U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport in Schonefeld, Germany, June 23, 2021, to travel to Berlin. Blinken begins a week long trip to Europe traveling to Germany, France and Italy. Norland said those attending the Berlin conference would also discuss “destabilizing actions by armed groups and terrorism,” citing recent attacks in Libya claims by Islamic State militants. U.S. State Department officials also highlighted the need to counter those who are denying or distorting the Holocaust, which will be the subject of talks between Blinken and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas this week. “As knowledge of the Holocaust wanes, nefarious individuals, organizations, and occasionally governments engage in Holocaust denial and distortion for all manner of ends,” U.S. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Cherrie Daniels told reporters. Daniels said promoting greater education about the Holocaust, its consequences and its origins will help government officials and the public “recognize modern manifestations of anti-Semitism and even other forms of hatred” and push back against them. Defeating Islamic State will be the focus of another conference co-hosted by Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio as Blinken visits Rome on a later stop during his European trip. Blinken is also due to take part in a ministerial meeting in Italy concerning Syria and the humanitarian needs in that country. The European trip also takes Blinken to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron, following up on U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent meetings with allies in the region to boost trans-Atlantic relations. “This is really an opportunity for Secretary Blinken to reiterate the President’s message and speak with our oldest ally about areas of cooperation, including global security, again, the pandemic’s — recovery from the pandemic, and repairing and modernizing our alliances,” Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker told reporters Monday. Blinken is also scheduled to visit the Vatican, where Reeker said the agenda for meetings includes combatting climate change and human trafficking.
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First Trial Under Beijing-Imposed National Security Law Begins in Hong Kong
A 24-year-old Hong Kong man Wednesday became the first defendant to be tried under the city’s nearly one-year-old national security law. Tong Ying-kit was arrested after he drove his motorbike into a group of police officers on July 1 last year, the day after Beijing imposed the sweeping, draconian law on the semi-autonomous city. The former restaurant cook was charged with terrorism and inciting secession for displaying a flag on his motorbike that read “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a slogan popularized during the massive 2019 anti-government protests that prompted the new law. Hong Kong’s justice secretary has ordered Tong to be tried by a panel of three specially picked judges instead of facing an impartial jury, a move critics say erodes the independence of Hong Kong’s judiciary. Tong, who has been held without bail since his arrest, entered a not guilty plea at the start of Wednesday’s hearing. He faces life in prison if he is convicted. Tong is also facing a separate charge of causing grievous bodily harm by dangerous driving, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years. Anyone believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted under the national security law. Dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists have been arrested under the law since it took effect.
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Taliban Gain Confidence, Extend Reach in Afghanistan
The U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is more than halfway finished, yet the country is plagued with violence as the Taliban extend their reach. This, as the Afghan president meets with U.S. President Joe Biden later this week. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti reports from the White House.
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Why China’s Flash Points in Asia Persist Despite a Network of Crisis Hotlines
A growing network of crisis-defusing telephone hotlines between China and other Asian countries shows Beijing’s intent to strengthen those relations but does not resolve the wider disputes that could spark conflict, analysts believe. Officials in Beijing expect these phone connections to show “we are cooperating” but without policy changes that would calm its neighbors, said Alexander Vuving, professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. Most acts that anger other countries in disputed waterways are planned rather than sudden, he believes. “In actuality it doesn’t really reduce tension, because tension is most of the time deliberate,” Vuving said of Sino-Vietnamese relations. “China and Vietnam also take care to keep the tension below the threshold of an open conflict.” The navy hotline will ensure Sino-Vietnamese goodwill until the next planned upset, analysts believe. Each side has angered the other over the past seven years by exploring for oil under or near disputed tracts of the South China Sea. Last year Vietnam protested to China over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat. “I think that they’re just being responsible to have a secure line of communications in case anything happens. It doesn’t mean relations are any better or worse,” said Jack Nguyen, partner at the business advisory firm Mazars in Ho Chi Minh City. On the Sino-Vietnamese relationship, he said, “I think overall it’s stable, as stable as it can be.” Beijing claims about 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea, which is prized for fisheries and fossil fuel reserves. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam call parts of the sea their own, and Taiwan claims most of it. China is the most militarily advanced. Southeast Asian states resent China’s landfilling of small islets in the sea for military use and passing vessels through waters they call their own. China cites historical usage records to back its claims including in the exclusive economic zones of other states. Tokyo and Beijing contest parts of the East China Sea including a chain of uninhabited, Japanese-controlled islets. Hotlines are a common solution for China. Military hotlines “provide a way of communicating, which can improve dispute management and reduce the risk of conflict,” the state-monitored Chinese news website Global Times said on its website in 2018, quoting a research fellow from Beijing-based Tsinghua University. Chinese and Vietnamese navy chiefs agreed earlier this month to work towards setting up a hotline aimed at reducing risk of conflict over competing claims in the South China Sea. Foreign ministers from the two countries opened their own line in 2012 to discuss sea-related issues as needed. Defense ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed in 2017 to set up a hotline for what China’s state-owned Xinhua News Agency calls “quick response cooperation in emergency situations, especially in maritime operations.” A year later China and its former World War II rival Japan agreed to establish a hotline to discuss any strife at sea and another with India following a border standoff. Experts know of no occasion when the low-cost setups have muted a conflict and believe that China doesn’t pick up its hotlines at crucial moments. “It’s always of extreme danger if you pick up the phone on China’s end,” said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. “If things go right, you’ve got nothing, but any miscommunication whatsoever, then you are the guy [held responsible] because you forgot to ignore the ring.” China prefers to work directly with countries, including through offers of aid and investment for poorer ones, to ease disputes, analysts say. They point to the Philippines as a case in point over the past four years. China has other communication channels with Vietnam particularly, including informal talks between ruling Communist parties, they add.Once-Distrusted China Pledges Millions More to Philippines
Closer relations with a once-distrusted China gave the Philippines another boost this week as Beijing pledged a round of investment for the developing Southeast Asian country and new ideas for maritime security.When Chinese President Xi Jinping met Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte in China Tuesday, the host offered $73 million in economic and infrastructure aid, while nine Chinese companies signed letters of intent to explore $9.8 billion in business in the Philippines, Manila’s presidential…
“China and Vietnam actually never lacked the need in the past for an intentional setup of a special hotline for handling two-way South China Sea issues, because the platforms used by the Communist parties of China and Vietnam, as compared to other Southeast Asian countries’ channels, are very numerous,” said Huang Chung-ting, assistant research fellow with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei. The recently established navy hotline is a “symbolic and emblematic move” that’s unlikely to produce a “substantive result,” he said.
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US Opens $500 Million Fund for Relatives of Boeing 737 Max Victims
A $500 million U.S. fund to compensate relatives of 346 people killed in two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes has opened, the claim administrators told Reuters on Tuesday. The fund, which opened on Monday, is part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department. Boeing Co. in January agreed to pay $500 million to compensate the heirs, relatives and beneficiaries of the passengers who died in Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in 2018 and 2019. Each eligible family will receive nearly $1.45 million, and money will be paid on a rolling basis as claim forms are submitted and completed, said administrators Ken Feinberg and Camille Biros in a joint statement. Families have until October 15 to complete claim forms. The Justice Department and Boeing declined to comment. The fund is part of a $2.5 billion Justice Department settlement reached in January with Boeing after prosecutors charged the company with fraud over the certification of the 737 Max following a Lion Air crash on Oct. 29, 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines disaster on March 10, 2019. FILE – Dozens of grounded Boeing 737 Max aircraft are seen parked at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, Nov. 17, 2020.The settlement allowed Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution but did not impact civil litigation by victims’ relatives that continues. In July 2019, Boeing named Feinberg and Biros to oversee the distribution of a separate $50 million to the families of those killed in the crashes, and the new fund’s distribution follows a similar formula. While Boeing has mostly settled Lion Air lawsuits, it still faces numerous lawsuits in Chicago federal court by families of the Ethiopian crash asking why the Max continued flying after the first disaster. The DOJ settlement includes a fine of $243.6 million and compensation to airlines of $1.77 billion over fraud conspiracy charges related to the plane’s flawed design. The Justice Department said in January, “Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception.” Some lawmakers say the government did not go far enough, while Boeing says it has taken numerous steps to overhaul its safety culture. Congress ordered a major overhaul of how the FAA certifies new airplanes in December and directed an independent review of Boeing’s safety culture. The 737 Max was grounded for 20 months after the two fatal crashes. The FAA lifted the order after Boeing made software upgrades and training changes. Last month, Boeing agreed to pay a $17 million FAA fine after it installed equipment on more than 700 Boeing 737 Max and NG aircraft that contained sensors that were not approved. “The FAA will hold Boeing and the aviation industry accountable to keep our skies safe,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said.
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US Defense Secretary Backs Change in Military Sex Assault Prosecution
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said, for the first time, that he will support long-debated changes to the military justice system that would remove decisions on prosecuting sexual assault cases from military commanders. In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, Austin said he supported taking those sexual assault and related crimes away from the chain of command and letting independent military lawyers handle them. The Pentagon has long resisted such a change, but Austin and other senior leaders are slowly acknowledging that the military has failed to make progress against sexual assault and that some changes are needed. Austin pledged to work with Congress to make the changes, saying they would give the department “real opportunities to finally end the scourge of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military.” His public support for the shift has been eagerly awaited, sending a strong signal to the military and boosting momentum for the change. The statement came a day before Austin testifies to the House Armed Services Committee amid escalating pressure from Congress to take concrete steps to address sexual assault. Austin’s memo, however, does not express any view on legislation that would make broader changes to the military justice system and require that independent lawyers handle all major crimes. Senator’s proposal Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, has the support of 66 senators for a bill that would have independent prosecutors handle felonies that call for more than a year in prison. But other key lawmakers and leaders of the military services have balked at including all major crimes, saying stripping control of all crimes from commanders could hurt military readiness, erode command authority, and require far more time and resources. FILE – Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference in New York, March 14, 2021.Until now, Austin said publicly that he was open to changes recommended by an independent review commission that he had appointed to take a look at sexual assault and harassment in the military. The panel said sexual assault, sexual misconduct, domestic violence, stalking, retaliation, child sexual assault and the wrongful distribution of photos should be removed from the chain of command. In the statement, Austin finally makes public that he supports the change, and says those additional crimes should be included because there is a strong correlation between them and the prevalence of sexual assault. According to a Defense official, Austin has reservations, like those expressed by his senior leaders, about the more expansive change outlined in Gillibrand’s bill. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Military leaders hesitant In recent weeks, military service secretaries and chiefs, in memos to Austin and letters to Capitol Hill, said they were wary about the sexual assault change and laid out greater reservations on more broadly revamping the military justice system. FILE – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon, May 6, 2021.General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said removing commanders from prosecution decisions “may have an adverse effect on readiness, mission accomplishment, good order and discipline, justice, unit cohesion, trust, and loyalty between commanders and those they lead.” In a letter to Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Milley acknowledged that the military hadn’t made sufficient progress in combating sexual assault. He has repeatedly said, though, that he’s open to the sexual assault change. The independent review panel on Monday presented Austin with an expansive set of recommendations to combat sexual assault in the military, including prevention, command climate, victim care and support. “Generally, they appear strong and well-grounded,” Austin said in his statement. “I have directed my staff to do a detailed assessment and implementation plan for my review and approval.” Next steps Austin said he will present his recommendations to President Joe Biden in the coming days. But he also noted that the changes will require additional personnel, funding and authorities. The ones that can be done under existing authority will be given priority, he said, and other changes may take more time and will need help from Congress. “As I made clear on my first full day in office, this is a leadership issue. And we will lead,” he said. “Our people depend upon it. They deserve nothing less.” In a recent interview with the AP, Gillibrand said the wider change is necessary to combat racial injustice within the military, where studies have found that Black people are more likely to be investigated and arrested for misconduct. Gillibrand has argued against limiting the change to sexual assault, saying it would be discriminatory and set up what some call a “pink” court to deal with crimes usually involving female victims. “I’m deeply concerned that if they limit it to just sexual assault, it will really harm female service members. It will further marginalize them, further undermine them, and they’ll be seen as getting special treatment,” she told the AP.
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Native Americans Decry Unmarked Graves, Untold History of Boarding Schools
Clarence Smith was fresh off a 24-hour bus trip from his Blackfeet reservation in Montana to the Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota in the late 1980s, where he was sent by his family in the hope he would receive a better education. “On one of the first days of class, a white social studies teacher stood before our class and told us that we were lucky Columbus had found us, because otherwise we would still be living in teepees,” Smith said. He gazed down at the pair of Los Angeles Lakers sneakers he got just for his new school. If it weren’t for Columbus, he would still be in moccasins, he recalls thinking. Many years would pass before Smith began reeducating himself or, as he puts it, finding his own history. Flandreau, which declined comment, is one of at least 73 Native American schools out of an original 367 still in operation across the United States, according to researchers at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Institutional silence One academic researcher contends that as many as 40,000 children may have died in the U.S.-run schools, or because of their poor care at them, but the federal government does not know or is unwilling to say how many children attended the schools, how many died in or went missing from them, or even how many schools existed. FILE – Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks during a news briefing at the White House in Washington, April 23, 2021.As a congresswoman representing New Mexico, Deb Haaland was among those who called for a commission to fully investigate the legacy of the Indian boarding schools. On Tuesday, in her new position as U.S. Interior secretary, Haaland announced that her department would investigate the schools and their lasting impact on the lives of Native Americans. The investigation will focus on children who died while attending the schools and on finding their unmarked graves. The department will gather as complete a record as possible on the schools, including where they were located and who attended them. “I know that this process will be painful and won’t undo the heartbreak and loss that so many of us feel,” Haaland said in remarks to the National Congress of American Indians. “But only by acknowledging the past can we work toward a future that we’re all proud to embrace.” Haaland is the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary. The Interior Department oversees Indian schools, which churches began running in 1819 through federal funding. Conditions at former Indian schools gained global attention last month when tribal leaders in Canada announced the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children at the site of a former residential school for Indigenous children. ‘Cultural genocide’ The Canadian government said its Indigenous residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996, carried out “cultural genocide.” Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found that at least 4,100 students had died in the schools. Flandreau, which is still operating, was founded in 1892. At the time the ethos of such schools was expressed by U.S. Civil War veteran General Richard Pratt, who founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania in 1879 and said: “Kill the Indian, save the man.” Clarence Smith, who attended Chemawa Indian School in Oregon and the Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota, looks at a photo of one of his ancestors, whom he says died in the Baker Massacre in the 1800s, in Thornton, Colorado, June 18, 2021.Christine Diindiissi McCleave, chief executive officer of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, said unmarked graves linked to the schools also exist in the United States. “It’s a little bit annoying that so many people are shocked by that news” from Canada, McCleave said. “We’ve been trying to tell people about this for years.” Documented deaths Preston McBride, a Dartmouth College scholar, has documented at least 1,000 deaths at just four of the more than 500 schools that existed in the United States, including the non-boarding schools on reservations. His research has examined deaths from 1879 to 1934. The deaths were primarily from diseases made far more lethal in many of the schools because of poor treatment. The actual number of deaths is thought to be much higher. “It’s quite likely that 40,000 children died either in or because of these institutions,” said McBride, who estimates that tens of thousands more children were simply never again in contact with their families or their tribes after being sent off to the schools. “This is on the order of magnitude of something like the Trail of Tears,” McBride said, referring to the government’s forced displacement of Native Americans between 1830 and 1850. “Yet it’s not talked about.” Marsha Small, a Montana State University doctoral student, uses ground-penetrating radar to locate unmarked graves, including at the Chemawa Indian School cemetery in Salem, Oregon. The cemetery was left in disarray after original stone markers were leveled in 1960. So far, she’s found 222 sets of remains but says much more work is required to have a full accounting. “Until we can find those kids and let their elders come get them or know where they can pay respects, I don’t think the native is going to heal, and as such, I don’t think America is going to heal,” Small said. Chemawa, founded in 1880, is still operating. Native Americans acknowledge that the schools still operating have changed in important ways. Many are now under tribal oversight, and children are taught their home languages instead of being punished for speaking them. But the schools have yet to acknowledge their pasts, said the coalition’s McCleave and others. “Before we can move forward, they have to recognize that legacy,” she said. Chemawa referred Reuters to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Interior Department, the Bureau of Indian Education and the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not respond to emailed questions about acknowledging the schools’ pasts, efforts being made to find unmarked graves, and whether the bureau supports a congressional commission. Aurelio Morrillo, a 2020 Chemawa graduate who was raised for several years on the Gila River reservation in Arizona, said that while there he was never taught about the school’s past. “I feel like something is being hidden that we still don’t know about.”
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US Gives More Asylum-seekers Waiting in Mexico Another Shot
Thousands of asylum-seekers whose claims were dismissed or denied under a Trump administration policy that forced them to wait in Mexico for their court hearings will be allowed to return for another chance at humanitarian protection, the Homeland Security Department said Tuesday.Registration begins Wednesday, June 23, 2021, for asylum-seekers who were subject to the “Remain in Mexico” policy and either had their cases dismissed or denied for failing to appear in court, The Associated Press has learned.Under that criteria, it is unclear how many people will be eligible to be released into the United States pending a decision on their cases, according to a senior Homeland Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made public.FILE – A group of migrants mainly from Honduras and Nicaragua wait along a road after turning themselves in upon crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, in La Joya, Texas, May 17, 2021.But Michele Klein Solomon, the International Organization for Migration’s director for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, told the AP that she expected at least 10,000. Her organization is working closely with the administration to bring people to the border and ensure they test negative for COVID-19 before being allowed in the country.The estimate could be low. There are nearly 7,000 asylum-seekers whose cases were dismissed — the vast majority in San Diego — and more than 32,000 whose cases were denied, mostly in Texas, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. It is unknown how many cases were denied for failure to appear in court.Many are believed to have left the Mexican border region, thinking their cases were finished, raising the possibility that they will make the dangerous trek to return. The official said the administration is aware of those dangers and considering bringing people to the United States, as it is doing to reunite families that remain separated years after Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on illegal crossings.The move is another significant effort at redress for Trump policies that Biden administration officials and their allies say were cruel and inhumane and defenders say were extremely effective at discouraging asylum-seekers from coming to the U.S.Biden halted the policy his first day in office and soon allowed an estimated 26,000 asylum-seekers with active cases to return to the United States while their cases play out, a process that can take years in a court system backlogged with more than 1.3 million cases. More than 12,300 people with active cases have been admitted to the U.S. since February, while others who have registered but not yet entered the country bring the count to about 17,000.That still leaves out tens of thousands of asylum-seekers whose claims were denied or dismissed under the policy, known officially as “Migrant Protection Protocols.” Advocates have been pressing for months for them to get another chance, but the administration has been silent, leaving them in legal limbo.
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WFP: Catastrophic Hunger Descending on Southern Madagascar
The head of the World Food Program said Tuesday that more than a million people in southern Madagascar are “marching toward” starvation, and some 14,000 are already in famine-like conditions.“You really can’t imagine how bad it is,” David Beasley told a small group of reporters about the conditions he saw during his trip last week to the East African island nation.He said people are barely finding enough to eat, and many are dying. The WFP chief described people subsisting on mud and cactus flowers and hundreds of emaciated children with ripples of sagging skin on their limbs.“It’s something you see in a horror movie,” Beasley said.The country has suffered a series of successive droughts since 2014, leading to poor harvests. Last year, swarms of desert locusts swept through East Africa. Earlier this year two tropical storms appeared to bring some drought relief, but the rainfall, combined with warm temperatures, created ideal conditions for an infestation of fall armyworms, which destroy maize.“There is no conflict driving these hunger numbers in the south,” Beasley said, referring to the main cause of severe food insecurity affecting other countries. “It is strictly climate change; it is strictly drought upon drought upon drought.”Families have sold their land, their cattle and all their possessions to buy food.In the absence of food people eat locusts to survive. Ambovombe district is one of the most affected districts and Ankao is among the villages where situation has worsened the most. (Credit: WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana)The scope of the problem is daunting. More than a half million people in the south are one step away from starvation. Right behind them are roughly 800,000 more. Of the 14,000 already in famine-like conditions, WFP says their numbers could double in the coming months.Beasley said his agency needs $78.6 million to get 1.3 million people through the lean season, which will begin in September and run through March. And they need the money now because it takes 3 to 4 months to move food into southern Madagascar.“If we don’t get that money, then you are talking about at least a half a million people being in famine-like conditions,” said the WFP executive director.That money buys essential food items, including cereals, beans, lentils and cooking oil for families.Last week, the United States announced nearly $40 million in emergency assistance for southern Madagascar. The money will fund ongoing programs operated by WFP, UNICEF and Catholic Relief Services.Children get MUAC measurements taken by WFP staff in Ambovombe, one of the districts with a very high number of malnourished children, June 11, 2021. (Credit: WFP/Tsiory Andriantsoarana)The worsening food crisis in southern Madagascar is not the only looming famine Beasley’s agency is coping with.WFP said Tuesday that 41 million people are on the brink of famine in 43 countries, and it won’t take much to push them over the edge. That’s up from 27 million in 2019. The agency needs $6 billion to assist them.Ethiopia, Madagascar, South Sudan and Yemen are experiencing the severest food crises. Nigeria and Burkina Faso are also of special concern because they have in recent months had pockets of people in the highest crisis levels of hunger.“We are in unprecedented waters right now, unlike anything we have seen since World War II,” said Beasley. “The numbers are astounding.”
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Elephant in the Room: Thai Family Gets Repeat Mammoth Visitor
Some families living in a jungle may be fearful of things going bump at night, but for one household in Thailand, the sight of an elephant rummaging through their kitchen was not a total shock.”It came to cook again,” wrote Kittichai Boodchan sarcastically in a caption to a Facebook video he shot over the weekend of an elephant nosing its way into his kitchen.Likely driven by the midnight munchies, the massive animal pokes its head into Kittichai’s kitchen in the early hours of Sunday, using its trunk to find food.At one point, it picks up a plastic bag of liquid, considers it briefly, and then sticks it in its mouth — before the video cuts out.Kittichai and his wife live near a national park in western Thailand, by a lake where wild elephants often bathe while roaming in the jungle.He was unperturbed by the mammoth mammal, recognizing it as a frequent visitor as it often wanders into homes in his village where it eats, leaves and shoots off back into the jungle.The elephant had actually destroyed their kitchen wall in May, he said, creating an open-air kitchen concept reminiscent of a drive-through window. This weekend, its sole task was to find food.Kittichai said a general rule of thumb in dealing with unwelcome visitors crashing is not to feed them.”When it doesn’t get food, it just leaves on its own,” he told AFP. “I am already used to it coming, so I was not so worried.”Wild elephants are a common sight in Thailand’s national parks and its surrounding areas, with farmers sometimes reporting incidents of their fruits and corn crops being eaten by a hungry herd.
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