DruafAfrica

Three African countries on cusp of death penalty abolition

Harare, zimbabwe — The international human rights organization Amnesty International says three sub-Saharan African countries considering ending the death penalty should do it now and pave the way for others around the world to follow in their footsteps.

There hasn’t been an execution in Gambia, Kenya or Zimbabwe in over a decade, Amnesty has said, and all three nations have commuted multiple death sentences during that time.

Lucia Masuka, head of Amnesty in Zimbabwe, said most countries in the world are moving away from the death penalty, and she urged African countries to follow suit.

“It’s time for all countries to move away from this cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment once and for all,” Masuka said. “Zimbabwe’s president himself was sentenced to death for terrorism, as a young man, due to his involvement in Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. He narrowly avoided execution. He was below the age of 21 at the time, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison instead.

“The president knows what it is like to be facing the death penalty, and he now has the opportunity to ensure that no one else goes through that.”

Addressing Parliament this month, President Emmerson  Mnangagwa stuck to his 2017 promise that he would not allow the death penalty to stand in Zimbabwe.

“Parliament has an obligation to expedite the enactment of all bills that, for one reason or another, are outstanding from previous sessions,” he said. “You can carry the burden.” Bills relating to death penalty abolition “should be passed.”

Casten Matewu, a legislator from the country’s main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change, and a member of the justice, legal and parliamentary affairs committee, said Mnangagwa should not be worried about the death penalty abolition bill.

“I am for the abolition of the death penalty, and this must be abolished before December,” Matewu said. “This is going to sail through seamlessly through Parliament, because there is a majority of parliamentarians, both from both sides of the house, who are actually in support of this bill.”

But not everyone agrees. Zachariah Choga, an attorney who formerly practiced in South Africa and is now practicing law in Harare, said the death penalty “should not be abolished.”

“I’ve had the privilege to practice in the South African legal system,” he said. “If you look at statistics since 1994, when the death penalty was abolished in South Africa, the increase has been a super-increase in heinous crimes, violent crimes and crimes of passion. So I’m actually of the opinion that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. I think the fear of one losing their life can assist, or can be a deterrent, when one considers committing a crime.”

Amnesty International’s Masuka has a different opinion.

“Countries that still retain the death penalty in their laws often resort to the death penalty, believing the punishment can make their people and communities safer,” she said. “However, that is a misconception. The death penalty does not have a unique, deterrent effect, and it violates the right to life, as proclaimed in the universal declaration of human rights. The small minority of countries that insist on using this punishment must move with the times and abolish the death penalty once and for all.”

According to Amnesty International, 24 countries across sub-Saharan Africa have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, while two countries have abolished it for ordinary crimes only. Zimbabwe’s last known execution was in 2005, though courts continue to impose death sentences. All of the condemned were sentenced to life imprisonment by Mnangagwa’s amnesty in April this year.
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DruafAfrica

UN calls for safer migration from Horn of Africa to Gulf countries  

Addis Ababa, ethiopia — The head of the U.N. International Organization for Migration, or IOM, is calling for safe migration to and from the Gulf countries as the dangerous eastern Horn of Africa route claims more lives.

The so-called eastern route runs from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf by way of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia and Yemen. Migrant workers, mainly from Ethiopia but also from other East African countries, travel over the route in search of jobs and economic opportunities.

At least 48 people died and 75 others were missing or presumed dead after smugglers forced migrants off two boats on October 1 in the Red Sea, off the coast of Djibouti. Almost all of the migrants were Ethiopians.

Speaking at the IOM’s regional review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration held Wednesday in Ethiopia, Director-General Amy Pope said more people were being harmed on the eastern route than on any other migration route in the world, though it does not get a lot of attention.

“What it demonstrates is that we need to build up safe and regular ways for people to move because we know, for example, within the Gulf, there are tremendous opportunities for people to go and live and work, whether they’re going in low-skilled sectors or they’re going in higher-skilled sectors,” she said, commenting on the recent deaths off the Djibouti coast.

“There should be no reason for people to have to move through a smuggler, through a trafficker, a route that will subject them to exploitation and often abuse,” she said.

Pushed into the sea

Frantz Celestin, IOM regional director for East, Horn and Southern Africa,  told VOA’s Horn of Africa Service that smugglers forced migrants on two fully loaded boats to jump into the sea about 3 a.m. on October 1.

In an email, Celestin said the first boat, which had two pilots, was carrying 100 migrants voluntarily returning from Yemen to Djibouti who had paid for and planned their trip.

“The two pilots forced them off the boat, even though they had not reached the shore. There were 99 migrants who survived, and one woman died. The pilots were able to flee the arrival of the coast guard and return to Yemen,” he said.

The second boat, with three pilots, had 220 migrants on board who were forced to return from Yemen to Djibouti. They were being brought back either from prison or from several other places in Yemen, Celestin said. Two or three of the migrants were returning voluntarily.

“They forced, pushed or threw the migrants into the sea far from the shore. The pilots abandoned their boat and fled by land,” Celestin said. “The Djiboutian coast guard brought many survivors from the sea point back to shore.”

One of the survivors, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons, told VOA Horn of Africa that the pilots asked them to “get out.”

“They asked us to get out of the boat into the seawater,” the survivor said, adding that the Yemeni pilot told them how to get to land. “But all of us could not make it as it was dark and lack of swimming experience.”

“We are peaceful people who want to work and help our families back home,” a second survivor said.

Root causes

At the regional review, Pope called on the international community to address the root causes of migration, including conflicts, development and climate shocks.

“The drivers of migration are really complex; some of it is about peace. We see, for example, the situation in Sudan, where there are millions of people who have been pushed out of their homes. The solution, the root cause of that, is the conflict, and until there’s peace in Sudan, then people will continue to move,” she said.

“In other cases, it’s the impact of poverty and the lack of economic opportunity for people at home, and the answer to that is about development and governance,” Pope said, adding that countries need to assume responsibility and address climate change, which she identified as one of the drivers of migration.

“On the one hand, it means that governments need to take seriously their obligations to mitigate the impact of climate change, but importantly, that is just not going to be enough, because we know people are being forced to move now,” she said.

“So, working with communities to adapt to climate change and ensuring there are resources to help people who’ve already been displaced by climate change will be critical moving forward.”

Pope urged governments to work together to ensure people vulnerable to exploitation — especially people who are being recruited by smugglers and traffickers — can migrate safely and obtain the information they need to access a regular pathway for migration.

This story originated in VOA’s Horn of Africa Service.
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DruasiaAsia

China tries to silence critics in Japan, new report finds

taipei, taiwan — China has used transnational harassment and intimidation to prevent Chinese people living in Japan from engaging in protests and activism, a new report by Human Rights Watch said.

Most of the 25 Chinese people interviewed by Human Rights Watch, including ethnic minorities from Xinjiang, Tibet and Inner Mongolia, said Chinese police have warned them, sometimes through their relatives in China, against taking part in activities or peaceful protests critical of the Chinese Communist Party and its rule over China.

“Several ethnic Uyghurs from Xinjiang said that Chinese authorities contacted them through their relatives back home, and the police told them to either stop their anti-Chinese government activities in Japan or pressed them to share information about Japan’s Uyghur community,” the report said.

Analysts say that while Chinese authorities haven’t used physical violence to intimidate Chinese people in Japan, they are still able to deter them from continuing their activism abroad.

“Beijing’s strategies targeting the Chinese diaspora community in Japan are sophisticated, because while they keep their threats relatively low-key — which is less likely to attract the Japanese government’s attention — it’s still enough to scare members of the diaspora community,” Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer at Human Rights Watch, told VOA by phone.

Some Japanese experts say Beijing’s transnational repression has created a chilling effect within the Chinese diaspora in Japan.

“More and more Chinese and Hong Kong people in Japan are minimizing their participation in public events, especially those related to sensitive issues, because they are concerned about facing retaliation from the Chinese government,” said Tomoko Ako, a China studies professor at the University of Tokyo.

The Chinese foreign ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Japan didn’t respond to VOA’s requests for comments.

When responding to a similar question in August, the Chinese Embassy in Washington told VOA that China “strictly abides by international law and fully respects the law enforcement sovereignty of other countries.”

Targeting activists’ families

Human Rights Watch said Chinese authorities often try to intimidate activists in Japan by targeting their family members in China.

In one case, a Chinese activist in Japan told Human Rights Watch that local police in Inner Mongolia interrogated his relatives, restricted their freedom of movement and prevented them from getting their passports after he took part in public protests against the Chinese government’s policy of replacing the Mongolian language with Mandarin Chinese at school.

The activist, who used the pseudonym A.B. because of security concerns, said the pressure his family members face has instilled in him a sense of guilt.

“My [relatives] tell me they’re afraid of the pressure they’re feeling, and that has been tough on me,” he told Human Rights Watch.

In another case, Hong Kong activist Alric Lee told VOA that his parents received a letter listing all the activities he had joined in Japan and demanded that they publicly apologize for “his wrongdoings.”

“They were asked to apologize for what I’ve done in Japan and publicly renounce their relationship with me,” he said in a phone interview, adding that his parents asked him to stop his activism in Japan after receiving the letter.

Since the letter included detailed records of his activities in Japan, Lee said he thought the threat might have been initiated by the Hong Kong government.

In addition to threats against family members, Lee said he and other members of the Hong Kong diaspora in Japan have been followed by unknown individuals after organizing or taking part in public activities.

Lee said these threats have forced him to reevaluate the potential consequences of his activism in Japan.

“I’m definitely thinking twice before taking part in activities, but since I don’t think I have done anything wrong, I don’t think I’ll change anything concerning my activism in Japan,” he told VOA.

No confidence in Japan

Despite the threats, some Chinese people told Human Rights Watch that they didn’t seek help from the Japanese police because of fear of reprisal or because they didn’t think doing so would resolve the problems they were facing.

“Some people said they think Japanese authorities can’t do much about what the Chinese police have done to them, and they feel that the Chinese government would find out if they try to seek help from the Japanese police,” Kasai told VOA.

In a written response to inquiries from VOA, the Japanese foreign ministry declined to comment on transnational repression against Chinese people in Japan and what the Japanese government can do to safeguard their basic rights. Officials said both matters were related to “foreigners in Japan.”

Ako said the Japanese government’s reluctance to comment on Beijing’s transnational repression against Chinese people in Japan reflects Tokyo’s attempt to avoid increasing tensions between the two countries.

“The Japanese government probably doesn’t want to heighten tensions with China, but I think it is their basic responsibility to publicly comment on this concerning trend that’s happening in Japan,” she told VOA by phone.

Kasai said since Japan and 54 other countries at the U.N. Human Rights Council condemned transnational repression and vowed to hold those responsible accountable in June, Tokyo should consider establishing mechanisms to help protect the basic rights and safety of those being intimidated.

“The Japanese police should try to create a system that allows Chinese people to report their experiences of facing transnational repression initiated by the Chinese government,” he told VOA, adding that such a system should include safeguards for individuals’ privacy.

Kasai and Ako said they thought the Japanese government should go further.

“I think human rights should remain an important aspect of Japan’s bilateral engagement with China, so I believe Tokyo should try to raise the issue of Beijing’s transnational repression against Chinese people in Japan during bilateral meetings,” Ako said.
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Observers: Chinese-made fighter jets play key role in deadly airstrikes in Myanmar

 Washington — Local media in Myanmar are reporting that six FTC-2000G fighter jets purchased from China have arrived, and observers are concerned that Chinese military support for the Myanmar military is prolonging the conflict and worsening civilian suffering. 

China’s supply of fighter jets, such as the FTC-2000G, has helped the junta maintain air superiority, and that has caused widespread casualties across Myanmar.

According to media reports, this delivery in August 2024 is the second batch of FTC-2000G jets received by Myanmar’s military. The junta took delivery of the first batch in November 2022. 

Military-controlled media later showed the FTC-2000G aircraft at a Myanmar Air Force ceremony on Dec. 15, 2022. The second batch is widely expected to be showcased at this year’s Air Force Day celebration in December. 

Zay Ya, a former sergeant in the Myanmar Air Force, explained to VOA from an undisclosed location on the Thai-Myanmar border, “Many of the Russian-made Yak-130s are out of service, so the Chinese jets are now critical to the military’s operations.” 

He added that the Chinese jets are already used in combat, with several stationed at key air bases. 

Zay Ya, who served in Myanmar’s Air Force for nearly a decade, deserted the military following the February 2021 overthrow of an elected government and is now assisting fellow former service members who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement against the military junta. 

Based on his hands-on experience with the Myanmar Air Force, Zay Ya pointed out that Russia’s aircraft are high-cost and fuel-consuming, while Chinese planes are more compatible with Myanmar’s existing defense industry. “The Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 — four of them arrived before the FTC-2000G — but the FTC-2000G can be used immediately,” Zay Ya said. 

VOA’s Burmese Service contacted the Myanmar government’s military information team in Nay Pyi Taw and the Chinese Embassy in Yangon and Washington, D.C., regarding the delivery of FTC-2000G jets but has not yet received a response. 

Use of FTC-2000G 

The FTC-2000G’s ability to carry missiles, rockets and bombs has significantly enhanced the junta’s airstrike capabilities, particularly in conflict zones like northern Shan State and areas controlled by the Brotherhood Alliance, an ethnic armed group near the Chinese border, according to the observers. 

A report by Justice for Myanmar and Info Birmanie highlighted how China’s FTC-2000G aircraft have been used for air raids on civilian areas. On Jan. 16, 2024, opposition forces downed an FTC-2000G jet involved in an attack over the Namhpatkar region in northern Shan State. In December 2023, another FTC-2000G jet dropped bombs on residential buildings near Namkham. 

‘It will not shift the balance’ 

Dr. Abdul Rahman Yaacob, an expert on Southeast Asia’s defense and security issues with Lowy Institute, commented on the broader implications of the jet deliveries. “China is clearly taking sides in the civil war,” he told VOA. “It shows that China is not a neutral actor in the Myanmar crisis by supplying arms to the junta.” 

While the delivery of combat aircraft may give the junta some tactical advantage, Yaacob said, “Overall, it will not shift the balance to the side of the junta. The junta is actually facing a counterinsurgency. An insurgency campaign cannot be dealt with just by air power alone. It has to be fought by foot soldiers. And this is where the junta is facing a major problem — it has a shortage of manpower.” 

Several experts believe China’s actions are about more than military support. 

Jason Tower, the country director for the Burma program at the United States Institute of Peace, or USIP, told VOA, “It’s very clear that China still sees the Myanmar military as the government of Myanmar, and it seems unlikely that over the short term, China’s posture is going to change.” 

He argues that the sale of the fighter jets signals China’s intention to maintain stability in Myanmar and convince other international actors to accept the military junta. 

Thomas Kean, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, said China’s goal is to stabilize Myanmar and protect its strategic interests. “I think China wants stability and a degree of normalization,” Kean said. “China is pushing for a deal between the military and ethnic armed groups.” 

Civilian impact, international calls 

The conflict has displaced millions, with the United Nations estimating that more than 2.3 million people have fled their homes since the coup. Bombings have targeted schools, hospitals, and residential areas with little regard for civilian lives, according to the U.N. 

The international community has condemned Myanmar’s military for its atrocities. In a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said, “In many instances, civilians are not just collateral damage but the target of attacks, which appear intended to create terror.” 

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Justice for Myanmar, have called on China to stop arms transfers to the junta.  
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DruamAmericas

Though voter fraud rare, US election offices feature safeguards to catch it

NEW YORK — You’ve heard the horror stories: Someone casting multiple ballots, people voting in the name of dead relatives, mail-in ballots being intercepted. 

Voter fraud does happen occasionally. When it does, we tend to hear a lot about it. It also gets caught and prosecuted. 

The nation’s multilayered election processes provide many safeguards that keep voter fraud generally detectable and rare, according to current and former election administrators of both parties. 

America’s elections are decentralized, with thousands of independent voting jurisdictions. That makes it virtually impossible to pull off a large-scale vote-rigging operation that could tip a presidential race — or almost any other race. 

“You’re probably not going to have a perfect election system,” said Republican Trey Grayson, a former Kentucky secretary of state and the advisory board chair of the Secure Elections Project. “But if you’re looking for one that you should have confidence in, you should feel good about that here in America.” 

What’s stopping people from committing voter fraud? 

Voting more than once, tampering with ballots, lying about your residence to vote somewhere else, or casting someone else’s ballot are crimes that can be punished with hefty fines and prison time. Non-U.S. citizens who break election laws can be deported. 

For anyone still motivated to cheat, election systems in the United States are designed with multiple layers of protection and transparency intended to stand in the way. 

For in-person voting, most states either require or request voters provide some sort of ID at the polls. Others require voters to verify who they are in another way, such as stating their name and address, signing a poll book or signing an affidavit. 

People who try to vote in the name of a recently deceased friend or family member can be caught when election officials update voter lists with death records and obituaries, said Gail Pellerin, a Democratic in the California Assembly who ran elections in Santa Cruz County for more than 27 years. 

Those who try to impersonate someone else run the risk that someone at the polls knows that person or that the person will later try to cast their own ballot, she said. 

What protections exist for absentee voting? 

For absentee voting, different states have different ballot verification protocols. All states require a voter’s signature. Many states have further precautions, such as having bipartisan teams compare the signature with other signatures on file, requiring the signature to be notarized or requiring a witness to sign. 

That means even if a ballot is erroneously sent to someone’s past address and the current resident mails it in, there are checks to alert election workers to the foul play. 

A growing number of states offer online or text-based ballot tracking tools as an extra layer of protection, allowing voters to see when their ballot has been sent out, returned and counted. 

Federal law requires voter list maintenance, and election officials do that through a variety of methods, from checking state and federal databases to collaborating with other states to track voters who have moved. 

Ballot drop boxes have security protocols, too, said Tammy Patrick, chief executive officer for programs at the National Association of Election Officials. 

She explained the boxes are often designed to stop hands from stealing ballots and are surveilled by camera, bolted to the ground and constructed with fire-retardant chambers, so if someone threw in a lit match, it wouldn’t destroy the ballots inside. 

Sometimes, alleged voter fraud isn’t what it seems 

After the 2020 election, social media surged with claims of dead people casting ballots, double voting or destroyed piles of ballots on the side of the road. 

Former President Donald Trump promoted and has continued to amplify these claims. But the vast majority of them were found to be untrue. 

An Associated Press investigation that explored every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by Trump found there were fewer than 475 out of millions of votes cast. That was not nearly enough to tip the outcome. Democrat Joe Biden won the six states by a combined 311,257 votes. 

The review also showed no collusion intended to rig the voting. Virtually every case was based on an individual acting alone to cast additional ballots. In one case, a man mistakenly thought he could vote while on parole. In another, a woman was suspected of sending in a ballot for her dead mother. 

Former election officials say that even more often, allegations of voter fraud turn out to result from a clerical error or a misunderstanding. 

Pellerin said she remembered when a political candidate in her county raised suspicion about many people being registered to vote at the same address. It turned out the voters were nuns who all lived in the same home. 

Patrick said that when she worked in elections in Maricopa County, Arizona, mismatched signatures were sometimes explained by a broken arm or a recent stroke. In other cases, an elderly person tried to vote twice because they forgot they had already submitted a mail ballot. 

“You really have to think about the intent of the voter,” Patrick said. “It isn’t always intuitive.” 

Why voter fraud is unlikely to affect the presidential race 

It would be wrong to suggest that voter fraud never happens. 

With millions of votes cast in an election year, it’s almost guaranteed there will be a few cases of someone trying to game the system. There also have been more insidious efforts, such as a vote-buying scheme in 2006 in Kentucky. 

In that case, Grayson said, voters complained, and an investigation ensued. Then participants admitted what they had done. 

He said the example shows how important it is for election officials to stay vigilant and constantly improve security in order to help voters feel confident. 

But, he said, it would be hard to make any such scheme work on a larger scale. Fraudsters would have to navigate onerous nuances in each county’s election system. They also would have to keep a large number of people quiet about a crime that could be caught at any moment by officials or observers. 

“This decentralized nature of the elections is itself a deterrent,” Grayson said. 
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DruasiaAsia

Pakistan counters criticism of crackdown on ethnic rights group

Islamabad — Pakistan has justified its decision to outlaw a regional ethnic rights movement, citing alleged incitement of violence against the state and attempts to establish a “parallel judicial system” under the guise of peaceful public gatherings.

The group, known as the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), has openly criticized the powerful Pakistani military and mainly gets support from residents of the militancy-hit northwestern tribal districts bordering Afghanistan.

On Sunday, the government listed the PTM as a proscribed organization, saying it was engaged in activities “prejudicial to the peace and security of the country.” The ban drew backlash from local and international human rights groups.

Wednesday, Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told a televised news conference in Islamabad that PTM leaders were using “abusive language” against security institutions at their rallies and promoting “racial discrimination” in Pakistan.

The ban under the country’s anti-terrorism law allowed authorities to seal PTM offices, assets and bank accounts; seize literature; and prohibit public advocacy such as media statements or speeches.

Naqvi spoke hours after hundreds of enraged PTM supporters clashed with police near Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border province, resulting in the deaths of at least three activists. 

The violence took place in an area where the PTM had planned to hold a three-day public gathering Friday, called a “Pashtun National Jirga [assembly] Court.” It was intended to protest the civilian casualties and regional losses of property and commerce due to the increased Islamist militancy and army operations to counter the threat.

“We cannot allow anyone to set up a parallel judicial system in the country,” the minister said. “You are allowed to engage in discussions about politics and rights, but you are not allowed to encourage people to revolt against national institutions or to provoke them to take up arms against these institutions,” Naqvi stated. 

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, or HRCP, denounced the ban on the PTM as “neither transparent nor warranted” and criticized the subsequent use of force by police against the group’s members. 

“We oppose any use of unwarranted and unlawful force against those protesters who are unarmed. The state has already taken disproportionate measures by proscribing the PTM and attempting to prevent it from holding this assembly,” the watchdog said. 

The HRCP noted that a provincial high court ruling had protected PTM supporters’ “right to assemble peacefully.” 

Amnesty International has also demanded Pakistan immediately revoke the ban on the PTM.

“The listing of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement as a proscribed organization, days ahead of their gathering scheduled on 11 October, is part of a systematic and relentless clampdown by the Pakistani authorities on peaceful protests and assemblies by dissenting groups,” the global rights defender said in a Tuesday statement.

“This latest arbitrary ban under overbroad powers of the terror law is only the tip of the iceberg — for years, the Pakistani authorities have suppressed such movements from marginalized regions by resorting to unlawful use of force, enforced disappearances, and media bans on the coverage of protests or rallies,” said Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for South Asia.

Pakistan has experienced a surge in terrorist attacks claimed by or blamed on Tehrik-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United Nations.

An alliance of banned Pakistani groups, TTP is commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, and its fighters are mainly active in border districts, allegedly conducting cross-border attacks from sanctuaries in Afghanistan with the support of the Taliban government there.
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DruamAmericas

Wisconsin’s Dane County could hold key to White House

One county in the battleground U.S. state of Wisconsin plays a disproportionate role in deciding whether Democrats or Republicans win the White House in November, analysts say. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias takes us to Dane County, where the fight to sway votes is getting hotter as the election draws near.
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DruamAmericas

Las Vegas says goodbye to Tropicana with flashy casino implosion

LAS VEGAS — Sin City blew a kiss goodbye to the Tropicana before first light Wednesday in an elaborate implosion that reduced to rubble the last true mob building on the Las Vegas Strip. 

The Tropicana’s hotel towers tumbled in a celebration that included a fireworks display. It was the first implosion in nearly a decade for a city that loves fresh starts and that has made casino implosions as much a part of its identity as gambling itself. 

“What Las Vegas has done, in classic Las Vegas style, they’ve turned many of these implosions into spectacles,” said Geoff Schumacher, historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum. 

Former casino mogul Steve Wynn changed the way Las Vegas blows up casinos in 1993 with the implosion of the Dunes to make room for the Bellagio. Wynn thought not only to televise the event but created a fantastical story for the implosion that made it look like pirate ships at his other casino across the street were firing at the Dunes. 

From then on, Schumacher said, there was a sense in Las Vegas that destruction at that magnitude was worth witnessing. 

The city hasn’t blown up a Strip casino since 2016, when the final tower of the Riviera was leveled for a convention center expansion. 

This time, the implosion cleared land for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the relocating Oakland Athletics, part of the city’s latest rebrand into a sports hub. 

That will leave only the Flamingo from the city’s mob era on the Strip. But, Schumacher said, the Flamingo’s original structures are long gone. The casino was completely rebuilt in the 1990s. 

The Tropicana, the third-oldest casino on the Strip, closed in April after welcoming guests for 67 years. 

Once known as the “Tiffany of the Strip” for its opulence, it was a frequent haunt of the legendary Rat Pack, while its past under the mob has long cemented its place in Las Vegas lore. 

It opened in 1957 with three stories and 300 hotel rooms split into two wings. 

As Las Vegas rapidly evolved in the following decades, including a building boom of Strip megaresorts in the 1990s, the Tropicana also underwent major changes. Two hotel towers were added in later years. In 1979, the casino’s beloved $1 million green-and-amber stained glass ceiling was installed above the casino floor. 

The Tropicana’s original low-rise hotel wings survived the many renovations, however, making it the last true mob structure on the Strip. 

Behind the scenes of the casino’s grand opening, the Tropicana had ties to organized crime, largely through reputed mobster Frank Costello. 

Costello was shot in the head in New York weeks after the Tropicana’s debut. He survived, but the investigation led police to a piece of paper in his coat pocket with the Tropicana’s exact earnings figure, revealing the mob’s stake in the casino. 

By the 1970s, federal authorities investigating mobsters in Kansas City charged more than a dozen operatives with conspiring to skim $2 million in gambling revenue from Las Vegas casinos, including the Tropicana. Charges connected to the Tropicana alone resulted in five convictions. 

There were no public viewing areas for the event, but fans of the Tropicana did have a chance in April to bid farewell to the vintage Vegas relic. 

“Old Vegas, it’s going,” Joe Zappulla, a teary-eyed New Jersey resident, said at the time as he exited the casino, shortly before the locks went on the doors.
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DruafAfrica

Kenyan lawmakers impeach deputy president for abuse of office

Nairobi — Kenya’s National Assembly has impeached the country’s deputy president over accusations of corruption and abuse of office. Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to remove Rigathi Gachagua from office in the vote Tuesday night. The fate of the deputy president now rests in the hands of the Senate. 

The process to consider removal of Kenya’s deputy president from office moved to the Senate Wednesday after parliamentarians approved a motion to do so Tuesday night.

Ahead of the vote, embattled deputy president Rigathi Gachagua and his allies presented his defense to the National Assembly for more than 90 minutes.

But the lawmakers were not swayed, and 281 of them approved a motion to remove Gachagua from office. Forty-four others voted against the motion, and one abstained.

Gachagua was accused of acquiring properties through corrupt means, though he argued the assets belonged to his late brother.  He is also accused of practicing ethnic politics and acting to undermine the government.

The impeachment comes after Gachagua’s fell out with President William Ruto.

The deputy president has denied all the allegations against him, calling them outrageous and saying they are propaganda meant to tarnish his name.

Political commentator Martin Andati said the way in which Gachagua works with other politicians and the people cost him his job.

“His fate is sealed. He antagonized the MPs, he antagonized the Senate by talking badly about the chambers and the speakers, and generally, he is not a pro-people person. He has poor people management skills,” he said.

Some members of parliament, like Robert Mbui, who is also deputy leader of the minority, were against the impeachment. He said the house should concentrate on public issues instead of debating one man.

“The cost of living has gone too high, people have no jobs, Mr. Speaker. Those are the things that this house should passionately deal with, but for a whole day, even the last two or three weeks to deal with one matter, I think we are losing direction. It’s important that we deal with things that are affecting our people,” he said.

In the past four months, Kenya has witnessed a wave of protests aimed at President Ruto’s government over allegations of corruption by some politicians and government officers. Kenyans also protested high taxes and parliament’s alleged failure to act independently from the president.

Some politicians have accused the deputy president of helping to organize anti-government protests, an accusation Gachagua denies.

Kenyan political expert Harman Manyora said the parliament is setting a dangerous precedent that threatens the country’s political future and ethnic cohesion.

“[It] should not surprise us. In the future, we can have governments fall in the manner in which governments come and go in parliamentary democracies like India, Israel, the UK, and Italy, which I doubt we can withstand. From a political front, this is also a country with a lot of flashpoints. It is an ethnically charged country, and a move like this has the potential of negatively impacting the country by causing division, and you can never know where it can lead us,” said Manyora.

The debate and voting about Gachagua’s conduct will continue next week. After that, some believe the issue may go to court, where he could seek legal help to either keep his job or clear his name of the allegations against him.
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DruasiaAsia

Taliban publicly flog 9 Afghan men, women despite UN outcry

ISLAMABAD — Hardline Taliban authorities in Afghanistan reported Wednesday that nine people, including at least two women, were publicly flogged after being convicted of various crimes, such as adultery. 

Five of the punishments took place at a sports stadium in Kandahar, capital of the eponymous southern province. Local Taliban officials, judicial officers, and ordinary Afghans were among the onlookers.  

The Taliban’s Supreme Court announced the details, saying the five individuals were found guilty of adultery, sodomy, and robbery, with each of them receiving 39 lashes and prison sentences ranging from two to seven years. It did not say whether females were among the convicts. 

The court separately announced that two men and two women were publicly flogged Wednesday for adultery in the northern Afghan provinces of Takhar and Samangan. 

Hundreds of men and women have been lashed in sports stadiums across Afghanistan since the Taliban regained power in 2021.   

In June this year, the Islamist leaders carried out a mass lashing of 63 convicts, including 14 women, in a packed northern sports stadium for committing “immoral crimes,” such as adultery and homosexuality.  

The Taliban have also executed at least five Afghan murder convicts in crowded sports stadiums, citing the Islamic concept of retributive justice known as qisas. 

Global outcry 

The executions and corporeal punishments have drawn an outcry and calls from the United Nations to immediately end them for being in breach of human rights and international law. 

Taliban leaders defend their criminal justice system, arguing that it is in line with their interpretation of the Islamic law of Sharia. They also rejected criticism of their curbs on Afghan women’s access to education, employment, and public life at large. 

The United States and the world at large have refused to recognize Taliban authorities as the official government of Afghanistan, citing their treatment of women, among other human rights concerns. 

“We continue to make clear that any significant steps towards normalization of relations is contingent upon a profound shift in the Taliban’s human rights conduct,” said Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesperson, speaking to reporters Tuesday. “And there has been remarkable unity among the international community on that question.” 

Girls ages 12 and older are not allowed to attend secondary school, making Afghanistan the only country in the world with this restriction, while female students have been barred from universities. Most Afghan women are prohibited from working in both public and private sectors, including the U.N. 

The Taliban last month enacted so-called “vice and virtue” laws that, according to critics, have dealt another blow to women’s rights in Afghanistan. The contentious decree deems the sound of a woman’s voice in public a moral violation and requires them to cover their entire bodies and faces when outdoors. It also forbids women from looking at men to whom they are not related and vice versa. 
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DruasiaAsia

Expansion of ASEAN-China free-trade pact questioned amid summit

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — As Laos hosts this year’s summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Beijing is calling for additions to its free-trade agreement with the regional forum that focus on smart cities, 5G, artificial intelligence and e-commerce.

Ahead of the ASEAN summit, which began Sunday and ends Friday, Chinese state media have stepped up efforts to promote the benefits of what they call an upgrade to the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, or CAFTA, agreement.

Analysts point out that the two sides have not reached agreement on what’s being called “CAFTA 3.0,” and that it remains to be seen whether including China’s electric vehicles and e-commerce would benefit Southeast Asian industries that are struggling to compete with their Chinese counterparts.

“The establishment of a free-trade demonstration zone is actually nothing more than the hope that things can be sold into China,” Ming-Fang Tsai, a professor in the Department of Industrial Economics at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, told VOA.

However, he said the Chinese market is facing a lack of domestic demand and overproduction, leading to price competition.

“So, is the FTA 3.0 really an upgrade? Actually, it is a big question mark,” he said by email.

Nevertheless, some specific areas in the 3.0 agreement still attract the attention of experts, including its focus on the EV industry.

Although ASEAN is also actively developing an EV industry, He Jiangbing, a China-based economist and finance commentator, told VOA if China’s major EV manufacturers pour into Southeast Asia through changes in the agreement, it would likely have a huge impact on the local automobile industries.

“China’s mainland started relatively early in new-energy vehicles and has developed rapidly for 10 years. But the automotive industry in ASEAN is relatively weak. If China’s new-energy vehicles are sold in ASEAN, it will be difficult for Southeast Asian [traditional] car companies to resist,” He said.

Southeast Asia’s own automobile industry will be greatly affected or cease to exist, He said.

But Lu Xi, a senior lecturer at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, told VOA that most of China’s EVs are not getting into Southeast Asia through exports but through production-line transfer, similar to joint ventures, so a price war should not cause a negative impact.

“With the transfer of [China’s EV] manufacturing industry chain, the economic structure of Southeast Asia will undergo a huge transformation,” Lu said by email. “Depending on the current political and economic situation between China and the US, Southeast Asia itself also has a very broad local market and a very good young population structure, so on the whole, the Southeast Asian market should be one of the important engines of economic growth in the whole region in the future.”

Tsai noted that Chinese manufacturers will set up factories in Southeast Asia to avoid the “Made in China” label and restrictions on Chinese products.

“U.S. controls on technology may affect the components of EVs in the future,” he said, “which brings great pressure to Chinese manufacturers.”

In addition to EVs, the 3.0 agreement also focuses on smart cities, 5G, artificial intelligence and e-commerce.

Analysts say China’s e-commerce is already having a negative impact on the region as orders of cheaper Chinese imports and knockoffs are flooding Southeast Asia. Half of the ceramic factories in Thailand’s northern Lampang province have closed, and Indonesian textile workers are facing mass layoffs, the South China Morning Post and the Bangkok Post reported.

“In the face of the massive entry of the [Chinese] e-commerce, frankly speaking, these Southeast Asian countries are relatively uncompetitive,” said Tsai. “Because first, [they] will not be able to compete with China in marketing and sales. Second, [China’s] own products are cheaper.

“If my entire e-commerce system is better than yours,” Tsai said, “and my products are not more expensive than yours, then how can you compete with me?”

Nonetheless, in a September speech for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, in Nanning, China, ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn called on businesses to take full advantage of the partnership as they move toward the changes.

He touted the RCEP, the world’s largest trade bloc, covering nearly 30% of global gross domestic product at $29 trillion and 2.3 billion people across the Asia Pacific region.

“ASEAN’s multidirectional economic relations have been a major driver behind the use of RCEP,” said Hourn, according to a written statement. “China, for example, has remained ASEAN’s largest trading partner for the past 15 years and has also climbed from the 5th largest source of FDI to ASEAN in 2022 to the 3rd largest in 2023. With both RCEP and ACFTA 3.0 in place, I am confident that trade and investment between ASEAN, China, and the rest of the RCEP partners will continue to flourish for the benefit of the people in this wider region.”

ASEAN calls the free-trade agreement ACFTA; Beijing refers to it as CAFTA.

The agreement was established by China and ASEAN in 2009, and the ASEAN-China Summit announced the launch of negotiations for the changes in November 2022.

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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DruafAfrica

Mozambicans casts ballots in election that may prolong ruling party dominance

Maputo — Mozambicans vote Wednesday between the party that has dominated their country’s political landscape for nearly 50 years or something different. Whoever wins will inherit major challenges, including an insurgency in the oil and gas-rich area of Cabo Delgado.

Voters braved morning rain in Maputo to line up as early as 7:00 am to cast their ballots.

They have four candidates to choose from; Daniel Chapo, the ruling Frelimo party leader; Ossufo Momade, the candidate of one main opposition party that came in second in the last presidential election; Lutero Simango, the leader of the Mozambique Democratic Movement and Venancio Mondlane, an independent who seems popular among youth.

Aslak Ore, a researcher on Mozambique at the Christian Michelsen Institute in Norway, said that while supporters of Mondlane have shown excitement, he still faces stiff challenges.

“There’s been a lot of enthusiasm about his candidature, however he doesn’t have the electoral organization of either Renamo or Frelimo. The question is if he’s going to be able to convert that obvious enthusiasm among the population… into the votes,” he said.

At a polling place at the Josina Machel secondary school in Maputo, 22-year-old Augusto Paz said he waited about an hour, but he had to make sure to vote.

“As a young Mozambican man, I feel like this is important because it might be the choice that would change things in our country. I am talking about healthcare, education, and development in general,” he said.

After casting his ballot, Sergio Pantie, a member of parliament and Frelimo supporter, told us he is confident his party will win.

“People continue to love and highly consider Frelimo as an option to continue running this country… the results will prove, once again, that Frelimo is loved and esteemed by the Mozambican people,” he said.

Two of the candidates, Momade and Simango, voted at the same polling place where outgoing President Filipe Nyusi casts his ballot.

Former St. Lucia prime minister Dr. Kenny Anthony, who arrived in Maputo on October 2nd, heads the Commonwealth International Observers’ delegation. He told VOA his group was still visiting other polling stations and getting reports from other parts of the country. Meanwhile…

“There seems to be some optimism that this is going to be a better administered election than previous elections. Whether that will be the case, I don’t know… we’ve just visited this polling station, and all seem to have gone on very well here,” he said.

Whoever wins these elections will inherit many challenges starting with the economy and debt repayments, Ore said.

“It’s between 12 and 14 billion dollars in external debt. Recently they have been able to pay back much of that debt, but they have done so by way of accumulating a lot of domestic debt. The state takes up loans from the banking system and institutions locally, so they are accumulating debt at the same time as they are paying back the external debt,” said Ore.

In addition to debt challenges, the government has been battling an insurgency in the gas- and oil-rich Cabo Delgado province, where about 4,000 people have been killed and about 1 million displaced since 2017, hindering multibillion-dollar oil and gas projects.

Some countries, including Rwanda, have stepped in recently to help quell the insurgency — an act that Adriano Nuvunga, a social activist and director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Mozambique, disagrees with.

“Mozambique, big as it is, massive as it is… 33 million people… but it needs to import soldiers from Rwanda to protect its sovereignty… Rwanda, a tiny country of 13 million people to protect us here,” said Nuvunga.

Ruling party candidate Chapo said if he wins, securing the Cabo Delgado area will be his top priority because without security, there is no development he recently told supporters.

Nuvunga said while Frelimo was seen as a liberation movement 50 years ago, times have changed.

“The people here, they have nothing to do with what people did five decades ago. It’s about today; are you able to put in place credible policies and put in place a credible system of governance that would work for the people,” said Nuvunga.

More than 17 million people are registered to vote.
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DruasiaAsia

Indian PM’s party trounced in India-administered Kashmir vote

Voters in Indian-administered Kashmir have rejected the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, rebuking the party that revoked the region’s semi-autonomy. VOA correspondent Muheet Ul Islam has more from Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir. Camera: Wasim Nabi
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DruamAmericas

Study: Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense

Washington — Hurricane Helene’s torrential rain and powerful winds were made about 10% more intense due to climate change, according to a study published Wednesday by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group.  

Although a 10% increase “might seem relatively small… that small change in the hazard really leads to big change in impacts and damage,” said climate scientist Friederike Otto, who heads the research organization.  

The study also found that fossil fuels — the primary cause of climate change — have made hurricanes like Helene 2.5 times more likely to occur.  

In other words, storms of Helene’s magnitude were formerly anticipated once every 130 years, but now the probability is closer to once every 53 years, on average.  

To conduct the study, researchers focused on three aspects of Hurricane Helene: precipitation, winds and the water temperature of the Gulf of Mexico — a key factor in its formation.  

“All aspects of this event were amplified by climate change to different degrees,” Ben Clarke, a co-author of the study and researcher at Imperial College London, told a press conference.  

“And we’ll see more of the same as the world continues to warm,” he continued.  

The research by WWA, an international group of scientists and meteorologists who study the role of climate change in extreme weather events, comes as the southeastern US state of Florida prepares for the arrival of another major hurricane, Milton, just 10 days after it was hit by Helene.   

Destruction

Helene made landfall in northwestern Florida on September 26 as a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 140 mph (225 kph).  

The storm then moved north, causing heavy rain and devastating floods in several states, including North Carolina, where it claimed the highest death toll.  

The authors of the study emphasized that the risk posed by hurricanes has increased in scope beyond coastal areas.  

Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist at NGO Climate Central, said Helene “had so much intensity” that it would take time for it to lose strength, but the “storm was moving fast… so it could go farther inland pretty quickly.”  

This study utilized three methodologies to examine the three aspects of the storm, and was conducted by researchers from the US, the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands.  

To study its rainfall, researchers used an approach based on both observation and climate models, depending on the two regions involved: one for coastal areas like Florida, and another for inland areas like the Appalachian mountains.  

In both cases, the study found precipitation had increased by 10 percent because of global warming, which is currently at 1.3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.  

To study Helene’s winds, scientists looked at hurricane data dating back as far as 1900.  

They determined Helene’s winds were 11 percent stronger, or 13 mph (21 kph), as a result of climate change.  

Lastly, the researchers examined the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico, where Helene formed, finding it was around 2 degrees Celsius above normal.  

This record temperature was made 200 to 500 times more likely due to climate change, the study asserts.  

Warmer oceans release more water vapor, providing more energy for storms as they form.  

“If humans continue to burn fossil fuels, the US will face even more destructive hurricanes,” Clarke warned in a statement. 
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DruasiaAsia

China says Taiwan president increasing ‘hostility’

BEIJING — China has accused Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te of escalating “hostility” and pursuing independence, as the self-ruled island prepared to celebrate its National Day.

China, which split with Taiwan at the end of a civil war in 1949, regards the island as part of its territory that must eventually be reunified, by force if necessary.

Lai, who took power in May after his Democratic Progressive Party won a record third term, has been a vocal defender of Taiwan’s sovereignty, angering Beijing.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for a Chinese body in charge of Taiwan affairs, said Lai had “recycled the ‘Taiwan independence’ fallacy once again” and exposed “his malicious intent to escalate hostility and confrontation.”

Zhu’s remarks, reported by state media late Tuesday, were in response to Lai saying it was “impossible” for China to be the “motherland” of Taiwan.

“One of the most important meanings of these celebrations is that we must remember that we are a sovereign and independent country, and we must always cherish and love our country,” Lai said Saturday ahead of Taiwan’s National Day.

Three members of the U.S. Congress will be among the foreign guests in attendance when Lai delivers his National Day speech on Thursday, which will likely touch on the island’s China policies.

China’s defense spokesman Wu Qian said Wednesday that the United States was “adding fuel to the fire on the Taiwan issue” by providing arms to Taipei, and “pushing Taiwan step by step into a dangerous situation of war.”

Taiwan was on alert for Chinese military drills near the island on National Day after observing “some maritime deployments,” a senior security official told AFP on Wednesday.

Beijing maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and in the past two years China has held three rounds of large-scale war games, deploying aircraft and ships to encircle the island.

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently used his country’s national day celebrations to reiterate his call for the reunification of China and Taiwan.

“Achieving complete national reunification is the common aspiration of the Chinese people,” Xi said.

“It is an irreversible trend, a matter of justice, and it is in accordance with the popular will. No one can stop the march of history,” he said.
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DruasiaAsia

China says anti-dumping move on EU brandy is legitimate trade measure

BEIJING — China’s anti-dumping measures against brandies imported from the European Union are “legitimate trade remedy measures,” the commerce ministry said on Wednesday, a day after imposing the temporary curb.

French brands such as Hennessy and Remy Martin will face the strictures, adopted just days after the 27-nation bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), sparking its biggest trade row with Beijing in a decade.

China’s commerce ministry said preliminary findings of an investigation showed that dumping of brandy from the European Union threatened “substantial damage” to domestic industry.

On Wednesday the ministry said the EU’s actions against Chinese EVs “seriously lack a factual and legal basis” and “clearly violate” World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

China has protested strongly to the WTO, it added.

Trade tensions have surged since the European Commission said last week it would press ahead with tariffs on China-made EVs, even after Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, rejected them.

Another sign of rising trade tension was the ministry’s remarks on Tuesday that an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into EU pork products would deliver “objective and fair” decisions when it wraps up.

It also said it was considering a hike in tariffs on imports of large-engine vehicles, which would hit German producers hardest. German exports to China of vehicles with engines 2.5 liters in size, or larger, reached $1.2 billion last year.
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DruamAmericas

US considers breakup of Google in landmark search case

NEW YORK — The U.S. said on Tuesday it may ask a judge to force Alphabet’s Google to divest parts of its business, such as its Chrome browser and Android operating system, that it says are used to maintain an illegal monopoly in online search.

In a landmark case, a judge in August found that Google, which processes 90% of U.S. internet searches, had built an illegal monopoly. The Justice Department’s proposed remedies have the potential to reshape how Americans find information on the internet while shrinking Google’s revenues and giving its competitors more room to grow.

“Fully remedying these harms requires not only ending Google’s control of distribution today, but also ensuring Google cannot control the distribution of tomorrow,” the Justice Department said.

The proposed fixes will also aim to keep Google’s past dominance from extending to the burgeoning business of artificial intelligence, prosecutors said.

The Justice Department might also ask the court to end Google’s payments to have its search engine pre-installed or set as the default on new devices.

Google has made annual payments – $26.3 billion in 2021 – to companies including Apple and other device manufacturers to ensure that its search engine remained the default on smartphones and browsers, keeping its market share strong.

Google, which plans to appeal, said in a corporate blog post that the proposals were “radical” and said they “go far beyond the specific legal issues in this case.”

Google maintains that its search engine has won users with its quality, adding that it faces robust competition from Amazon and other sites, and that users can choose other search engines as their default.

The world’s fourth-largest company with a market capitalization of over $2 trillion, Alphabet is under mounting legal pressure from competitors and antitrust authorities.

A U.S. judge ruled on Monday in a separate case, that Google must open up its lucrative app store, Play, to greater competition, including making Android apps available from rival sources. Google is also fighting a Justice Department case that seeks the breakup of its web advertising business.

As part of its efforts to prevent Google’s dominance from extending into AI, the Justice Department said it may seek to make available to rivals the indexes, data and models it uses for Google search and AI-assisted search features.

Other orders prosecutors may seek include restricting Google from entering agreements that limit other AI competitors’ access to web content and letting websites opt out of Google using their content to train AI models.

Google said the AI-related proposals could stifle the sector.

“There are enormous risks to the government putting its thumb on the scale of this vital industry — skewing investment, distorting incentives, hobbling emerging business models — all at precisely the moment that we need to encourage investment,” Google said.

The Justice Department is expected to file a more detailed proposal with the court by Nov. 20. Google will have a chance to propose its own remedies by Dec. 20.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling in Washington was a major win for antitrust enforcers who have brought an ambitious set of cases against Big Tech companies over the past four years.

The U.S. has also sued Meta Platforms, Amazon.com and Apple claiming they illegally maintain monopolies.

Some of the ideas in the Justice Department’s proposals to break up Google had previously garnered support from Google’s smaller competitors such as reviews site Yelp and rival search engine company DuckDuckGo.

Yelp, which sued Google over search in August, says spinning off Google’s Chrome browser and AI services should be on the table. Yelp also wants Google to be prohibited from giving preference to Google’s local business pages in search results.
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DruasiaAsia

Daughter of Singapore’s founding father dies at 69

SINGAPORE — The estranged sister of Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong died on Wednesday at 69, after being diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy in 2020.

The death of Lee Wei Ling, a doctor, was announced by her younger brother Lee Hsien Yang on Facebook.

The siblings are the children of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and have been embroiled in a public dispute around what to do with their late father’s house after the elder Lee died in 2015.

The former PM Lee, now a senior minister in the cabinet, wrote on Facebook that despite the rift between him and his siblings, “I held nothing against Ling, and continued to do whatever I could to ensure her welfare.”

He described his sister as a fighter who was “fiercely loyal to friends, sympathized instinctively with the underdog, and would mobilize actively to do something when she saw unfairness, or suspected wrongdoing.”

The late doctor earned the prestigious President’s scholarship and topped her cohort in medical school. Lee never married and stayed with her parents until their deaths.

She helped set up Singapore’s National Neuroscience Institute and served as its director for 11 years. She also regularly contributed columns to the national newspaper, The Straits Times.

Senior minister Lee said his sister had diagnosed herself before the doctors did. “She took it with her usual fortitude and stoicism and posted about it as one of those things in life to be borne and endured. She knew what it meant, and made the most of the time she had, even as her health declined,” he wrote.

When announcing her illness, Wei Ling wrote: “My immediate reaction to the news was ‘ren’, or endure in Chinese, of which the traditional character has a knife above a heart. I have been practicing ‘ren’ since I was in Chinese school, recognizing that life has many unpleasant, unavoidable situations.”
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DruamAmericas

Razor-thin margins: Why Wisconsin is crucial in the 2024 presidential race

Wisconsin, a Midwestern U.S. state known for its dairy farms and beer production, has emerged as a crucial battleground in the 2024 presidential election. With a history of extremely close races, Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes could determine who becomes the next president. The state’s unique mix of urban and rural voters, along with key issues like the economy and abortion rights, make it a microcosm of the nation’s political divide.
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DruchinaChina

China stock market stalls for lack of further stimulus measures

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China’s stock rally resumed Tuesday after the weeklong National Day holiday but lost some steam on mainland markets after a press conference by the country’s economic planning agency disappointed hopes for more fiscal stimulus measures.

In Hong Kong, the day ended with chunky losses of nearly 10%. 

Early in the day, the Shanghai Composite Index rose more than 10%, the Shenzhen Component Index was up more than 12%, and the ChiNext Index rose 18%, continuing a rise that began late last month with the announcement of stimulus measures, ranging from rate cuts to looser curbs on house buying.

The rally stalled, however, as the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference intended to further boost market confidence, failed to announce any specific stimulus measures.

By day’s end, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 4.59%, the Shenzhen Component Index was up 9.17%, and the ChiNext Index rose 17.25% to mark its largest-ever, single-day increase. But in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index traded low throughout the day, returning the gains registered before the National Day holiday and closing down 9.41%.

Investors hoped the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state economic planning body, would roll out more detailed stimulus measures at the Tuesday briefing.

Chairman Zheng Shanjie told reporters that he had “full confidence” the economy would reach its official full-year growth target of about 5%. He said China will introduce policies to specifically strengthen or stabilize five aspects in the early stage, including the economic downturn, insufficient domestic demand, the difficulties of some enterprises, the continued weakness of the property market and the capital markets.

Chin-Yoong Wong, a professor of economics at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman in Malaysia, said the NDRC’s target issues are “very to the point but insufficient in implementation,” because the NDRC has not proposed precise and feasible countermeasures, and the scale of implementation is unclear.

Wong said much of what has been promised by the NDRC includes spending plans that were already in place “rather than additional fiscal stimulus for China’s economic downturn.”

He said the NDRC has talked a lot about boosting consumer confidence but has not issued any specific practical policies to achieve that, leaving shareholders to question whether the talk will be backed with action.

Liu Meng-Chuh, director of the First Research Division at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research in Taipei, said external factors are contributing to the volatility of China’s stock markets.

He told VOA, “On the one hand, China’s [favorable policies] are not so strong; [on the other hand], the U.S. economy is not so bad, so maybe much international hot money has begun to flow back [to the U.S.].”

However, Liu believes that there is still room for development in green industries and infrastructure for an aging society.

He said that China’s urban population is about 60% to 70% of its entire population, which is lower than the average of about 80% in mature economies, meaning that the dividends of China’s “urbanization” have not yet been exhausted. But he stressed that the feasibility has to be well-assessed to avoid repeating mistakes made in the past.

Tsai Ming-Fang, a professor of industrial economics at Tamkang University, said China’s foreign relations are not improving, causing foreign trade issues that are difficult to solve, such as the new tariffs imposed by Canada and the European Union on Chinese electric vehicles. 

Tsai said the stimulus measures in the past two weeks are not designed to revive the economy but to beautify the data to achieve the economic growth target of 5% this year, which may allow some shareholders and even foreign investors to liquidate their positions and take profits. 

“China’s only goal now is to reach the economic growth rate of 5%,” Tsai said. “Many problems arise from the drastic changes in Chinese laws [in recent years], which have led to a lack of confidence of manufacturers in China.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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DruafAfrica

Cameroon citizens want proof their 91-year-old president is alive

Yaounde, Cameroon — Cameroon government officials said the central African state’s 91-year-old president, Paul Biya, is in good health, contrary to information circulating on social and mainstream media.

Biya has not been seen in public since his official visit to China more than 1 month ago. Citizens say they want proof that their longtime leader is well.

Biya is in excellent health, according to a statement issued Tuesday by Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, director of the Civil Cabinet.  

Ayolo said Biya is in Geneva, Switzerland, where he has been granting audiences and working for the development of Cameroon.   

The statement comes after social media reports on Tuesday said Biya was dead but gave no details as to where and when the long-serving leader had died. 

Biya was last seen in Beijing over a month ago during a China-Africa leaders forum. In the meantime, some citizens said they do not believe Biya is alive.   

One of those is Gloria Wirkom, a businessperson in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.  

“He is our president, and if there is something wrong with him, we have the right to know,” she said. “So we are pleading with the government of Cameroon to let us know the health state [state of health] of our president.” 

Wirkom said she does not trust government officials’ declarations that Biya is in good health. Wirkom said she will believe Biya is alive only when she sees him.

On Cameroon State TV, government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi said he unequivocally affirms that the rumors of Biya’s death are pure imagination. 

Sadi said the day after the China-Africa summit, Biya stayed briefly in Europe, and that wherever he might be, Biya is attentive to the well-being of Cameroonians. 

Akongnwi Neba, a merchant, said it is wrong for the government to wait until a rumor spreads before explaining where Biya is.  

“We are asking the government to prove to us where he [Biya] is,” said Neba. “We need to know his whereabouts, whether he is alive or dead. It is our right as citizens of the country to know where our president is.” 

Cameroon officials have not said whether Biya will appear in public in Geneva. VOA could not independently confirm whether Biya was in the Swiss city.    

Biya is the oldest leader in the world. He has ruled Cameroon for more than four decades, and his supporters have been holding public rallies asking him to be a candidate in elections expected in October 2025. Biya has not said whether he will run for president again.  
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