Month: October 2019

The Jaipur Literature Festival began in the city of Jaipur, India. With 300 speakers and over 500 million visitors every year, it is the world’s largest free literary festival. The festival also travels internationally. One stop is Boulder, Colorado. Shelley Schlender reports.   …

BOSASO, Somalia / WASHINGTON / PENTAGON — A U.S. drone strike intended to hit an Islamic State (IS) hideout in Somalia’s northeastern region of Puntland mistakenly killed two frankincense collectors, according to local elders and a survivor who spoke Saturday with VOA. The Friday afternoon attack also injured another person after the drone strike hit the men, who were in the process of collecting frankincense near the remote Ameyra village in the Golis Mountain region of Somalia’s Northeastern Bari province, multiple local elders told VOA. Sa’id Abshir Mohamud, a local elder at Timishe village near the target of the strikes, told VOA Somalia about the reported civilian casualties. “Men sent to the location of the strike brought back the dead bodies of two locally known villagers who went there to collect frankincense,” the elder said. He identified the victims as Salad Mohamud Barre and Ayanle Ibrahim Mohamud. “One of the bodies was mutilated,” the elder said. US AFRICOM denial U.S. Africa Command said it conducted the airstrike and targeted IS terrorists in region. Despite the local elders’ claims, a statement from U.S. AFRICOM said Friday it killed three terrorists and no civilian were harmed.  “At this time, it is assessed the airstrike killed three (3) terrorists. Currently, we assess no civilians were injured or killed as a result of this airstrike,” the statement said. To boost their ranks and mislead the locals, terrorists in Somalia routinely spread propaganda saying U.S. military drones target civilians. Additionally, the terrorist groups are known to …

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the shadowy leader of the Islamic State group who presided over its global jihad and became arguably the world’s most wanted man, is believed dead after being targeted by a U.S. military raid in Syria. A U.S. official told The Associated Press late Saturday that al-Baghdadi was targeted in Syria’s Idlib province. The official said confirmation that the IS chief was killed in an explosion is pending. No other details were available. Both Iraq and Iran told Reuters Sunday that they had been informed by sources in Syria that al-Baghdadi had been killed. “Our sources from inside Syria have confirmed to the Iraqi intelligence team tasked with pursuing Baghdadi that he has been killed alongside his personal bodyguard in Idlib after his hiding place was discovered when he tried to get his family out of Idlib towards the Turkish border,” said one of the Iraqi security sources. Reports #ISIS leader Abu Bakr al #Baghdadi may have been killed in #Idlib#Syria shouldn’t come as a complete surprise-at least the location In July, a @UN report warned senior ISIS leaders “are among those who have made their way to the #Idlib area…”https://t.co/4ixEKW0xT2pic.twitter.com/xEFrnTjy8h — Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) October 27, 2019 President Donald Trump teased a major announcement, tweeting Saturday night that “Something very big has just happened!” A White House spokesman, Hogan Gidley, would say only that the president would be making a “major statement” at 9 a.m. EDT Sunday. From @ABC: https://t.co/RaE2cRAPov#ISIS — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 27, 2019 …

For centuries, Cambodians have looked to the Tonle Sap for a protein-rich river fish dinner. But supply has been a challenge. Malis Tum reports from a riverbank fish market in Phnom Phen.   …

Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera asked all his Cabinet members to offer their resignations Saturday as he prepared to shake up his government in response to a wave of protests, including one that drew more than a million people the day before.    Chile’s conservative president also said he might lift the state of emergency that has covered much of the country for the past nine days — a decree that had failed to bring peace after rioting broke out in response to a 4-cent rise in subway fares.   The protests rapidly expanded to cover a far wider sense of frustration among many Chileans who felt they have been struggling to make do as the well off grew richer.     “The march we all saw yesterday was a massive and peaceful march,” Pinera said. “We have all heard the message. We have all changed.”   FILE – Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera addresses the nation in Santiago, Oct. 24, 2019. He promised “a new Cabinet to confront these new demands and take charge of the new times.”    Friday’s demonstration in central Santiago that drew 1.2 million people was the largest in the country at least 35 years.    “All of them [Cabinet ministers] should go because they have been laughing at the people,” said Sonia Novoa, a 78-year-old retiree.  Pay, pensions, housing and more   Protesters have been calling for better pay, pensions, schools, housing and medical care, among many other demands. While most of the protests have been peaceful, some, especially at the start, have devolved into riots and …

Syrian troops reached a key area near Turkey’s border Saturday after sending further reinforcements to the region, in what a war monitor said was its largest deployment there in years. Syrian regime forces entered the provincial borders of the town of Ras al-Ain, state news agency SANA said. The regime forces entered the area, which was taken by Turkish forces following a weeks-long offensive against Syria’s Kurds. Troops also deployed along a road stretching some 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of the frontier, SANA added. Turkey and its Syrian proxies on October 9 launched a cross-border attack against Kurdish-held areas, grabbing a 120-kilometer-long (70-mile) swathe of Syrian land along the frontier. The incursion left hundreds dead and caused 300,000 people to flee their homes, in the latest humanitarian crisis in Syria’s brutal eight-year war. This week, Turkey and Russia struck a deal in Sochi for more Kurdish forces to withdraw from the frontier on both sides of that Turkish-held area under the supervision of Russian and Syrian forces. A Syrian security forces member takes a selfie by a Russian military vehicle during a patrol near the Syria-Turkey border, in northern Syria, Oct. 25, 2019. On Saturday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said some 2,000 Syrian troops and hundreds of military vehicles were deploying around what Turkey calls its “safe zone.” In the army’s “largest deployment” in the area in years, regime forces were being accompanied by Russia military police, the Observatory said. Moscow has said 300 Russian military …

Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday attacked U.S. plans to maintain and boost the American military presence in eastern Syria as “international state banditry” motivated by a desire to protect oil smugglers and not by real security concerns. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday Washington would send armored vehicles and troops to the Syrian oil fields in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of Islamic State militants. His comments came after President Donald Trump earlier this month pulled some 1,000 U.S. military personnel out of northeast Syria, a move that prompted Turkey to launch a cross-border incursion targeting the Kurdish YPG militia, a former U.S. ally against Islamic State. Trump’s decision drew an angry backlash from Congress, including key Republicans who saw the pullout as a betrayal of the Kurds and a move that could bolster Islamic State. In a statement, Russia’s defense ministry said Washington had no mandate under international or U.S. law to increase its military presence in Syria and said its plan was not motivated by genuine security concerns in the region. ‘Time Will Tell’ on Russia’s Middle East Power Play US officials say they are watching warily as more Russian forces move into the safe zone separating the Turks and Kurds in northeastern Syria  “Therefore Washington’s current actions – capturing and maintaining military control over oil fields in eastern Syria – is, simply put, international state banditry,” it said. U.S. troops and private security companies in eastern Syria are protecting oil smugglers who …

A supplier of election technology whose software was used in highly suspect Venezuelan balloting, faces a fresh test of its products during a decisive election this Sunday in Argentina. The company, Smartmatic, made headlines in 2017 by pulling out of Venezuela when the United States, the European Union and the Organization of American States accused the country’s leftist government of massive vote tampering. Smartmactic CEO Antonio Mujica, a Venezuelan engineer, said at the time that Venezuela’s election authorities had grossly inflated the number of voters participating in the election of a special constituent assembly that was convened to change the constitution. But government opponents had already filed a series of lawsuits, alleging major irregularities in previous elections administered by Smartmatic, which had worked with the Venezuelan government for more than a decade. FILE – Venezuelan presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores celebrate after the official results gave him a victory in the balloting, Caracas, April 14, 2013. Fraud allegations Cases of fraud alleged by the opposition included a 2013 vote that elevated then-Vice President Nicolas Maduro to the presidency, even as the country reeled from spiraling inflation and a scarcity of consumer products. “In the few districts, which we managed to audit through unfettered access to the paper ballots, we found that the opposition had won by huge margins even as election authorities reported that they had gone for Maduro,” said Adriana Vigilanza, a lawyer and international monitor of election processes who has led investigations into Venezuela’s …

For some she was the spy who wasn’t – just an eager Russian gun-rights enthusiast keen to improve relations between Russia and America, who was turned into a scapegoat by vengeful U.S. counterintelligence agencies. For others, Maria Butina is a clandestine Russian agent, a real-life Red Sparrow, with flame-colored hair to match, who infiltrated conservative circles in the U.S., including the National Rifle Association, to establish ‘back channel’ communications with political figures and aspiring politicians with the goal of influencing them. However, when she arrived home at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport to be greeted by her father and a melee of reporters, the 30-year-old shed no new light on the circumstances that led to her getting into trouble with U.S. authorities. She said she felt “well” and was happy “to return home.” She was greeted by people offering her flowers. She has continued to maintain her overall innocence, despite having pled guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent. On board an Aeroflot flight from Miami, reporters lined up to interview her even before landing. She told them: “Well guys, almost home. Only a little bit left, only several hours. Thank you for your support. I’m waiting for the plane to land. I’ll be in my homeland.” She added her imprisonment had been a “very painful and lengthy experience.” On her arrival she again thanked Russians for their support. “I didn’t give up simply because I knew that I could not do that,” she said. After hugging her father, Butina …

A U.S. proposal to boost global humanitarian trade with Iran in accordance with U.S. sanctions has sparked a positive British response and a debate about whether the plan’s goal is achievable. In a Friday statement, the U.S. departments of Treasury and State announced the launch of what they called a “new humanitarian mechanism to ensure unprecedented transparency into humanitarian trade with Iran.” The statement said the mechanism “will help the international community perform enhanced due diligence on humanitarian trade to ensure that funds … are not diverted by the Iranian regime to develop ballistic missiles, support terrorism, or finance other malign activities.” In an email sent to VOA Persian, the British Embassy in Washington said: “We have noted the announcement of this new humanitarian channel and look forward to hearing details of how it will work. It is vital that humanitarian goods are able to get to Iran.” Preserve Iran nuclear deal Britain is one of three European Union nations, along with France and Germany, that launched their own mechanism for humanitarian and other trade with Iran, known as the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, or INSTEX, in January. INSTEX was intended to facilitate what the three nations called “legitimate” trade to help preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in which world powers promised Tehran sanctions relief in return for restrictions on its nuclear program. The Trump administration has put the nuclear deal’s survival in doubt by withdrawing from it last year, saying it was not tough enough on …

The United States and South Korea this week held fresh negotiations over how to split the cost of the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. The current deal expires at the end of the year, and U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly demanded a fivefold increase in how much Seoul pays.   Trump says South Korea and other allies are taking advantage of the U.S. He reportedly wants Seoul to pay more than five times the amount it contributes now. Analyst Shin Beom-chul said some South Koreans would see such a demand as absurd, and that it could fuel anti-U.S. sentiment.  South Korea experienced mass anti-U.S. protests as recently as the late 2000s. However, these days, it’s hard to find overt displays of anti-U.S. sentiment. Polls suggest both conservative and liberal South Koreans broadly support the U.S. alliance.   FILE – South Korean (blue headbands) and U.S. Marines take positions as amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps fire smoke bombs during a U.S.-South Korea joint landing operation drill in Pohang, South Korea, March 12, 2016. It’s not guaranteed to stay that way, though. As Trump turns up the heat on cost-sharing, some familiar pockets of protest are getting louder.  Four hours south of Seoul, local villagers have set up a permanent roadblock to protest a controversial U.S. anti-missile system. As a result, the U.S. must deliver supplies to the base via helicopter.   Activist Kim Young Jae said he was also upset about the cost-sharing dispute. He said the U.S. was asking for more than what he saw as the total cost of the U.S. …

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged leaders to listen to the problems of their people as demonstrations multiply in cities around the world. “It is clear that there is a growing deficit of trust between people and political establishments, and rising threats to the social contract,” he told reporters Friday. He cited economic problems, political demands, discrimination and corruption as some of the issues driving protests. “People want a level playing field – including social, economic and financial systems that work for all,” Guterres said. “They want their human rights respected, and a say in the decisions that affect their lives.” Demonstrations have erupted this year in scores of countries stretching across nearly every continent. In Hong Kong, protestors have been on the streets since June, angered by a proposed bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. Hong Kong has been under Chinese rule since 1997. The bill was withdrawn last month, but protesters’ anger has not abated. In the Middle East, demonstrations started sweeping Lebanon last week, after the government mismanaged the containment of massive forest fires and then, days later, announced plans to tax WhatsApp Internet-based phone calls. Tens of thousands of protesters in the tiny country are demanding the cabinet’s resignation and early parliamentary elections. They want government corruption investigated, the minimum wage increased, and basic services provided — including clean water and 24-hour electricity. Guterres said the Lebanese must solve their problems with dialogue and he urged maximum restraint and non-violence from both the government and …

Thousands of Zimbabweans marched Friday in Harare to protest sanctions imposed on the country’s leadership for most of the past two decades. Protester Gilbert Shumba says the sanctions are to blame for food shortages. “Let’s go and destroy and kick these sanctions,” he said. “These sanctions destroy us, they are affecting me, my family, my kids, my dog, my rat, even that wizard which resides in my house, even that cockroach is relying on myself. When I am in hunger, all those things are in hunger.” Deputy Information Minister Energy Mutodi says Zimbabweans are united in demanding the sanctions end, in Harare, Oct. 25, 2019. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA) Deputy Information Minister Energy Mutodi said Zimbabweans are united in demanding that the sanctions end. “As Zimbabwe, we are saying enough of these sanctions. These sanctions are making our people to suffer in big numbers, there is widespread poverty,” Mutodi said. The United States and European Union first imposed sanctions on former President Robert Mugabe and dozens of his allies in 2002. The sanctions were a response to what then-U.S. President George W. Bush called a systematic campaign to repress dissent and undermine Zimbabwe’s democratic institutions. The travel and financial sanctions targeted only Mugabe and his supporters, not the entire country. But Zimbabwean leaders, including current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, blame them for blocking development of Zimbabwe’s economy. A public holiday was declared in Zimbabwe for Oct. 25, 2019, to allow schoolchildren and workers to join a protest against sanctions imposed on on the …

Rwanda is the latest African country to sign a nuclear deal with Russian state atomic company Rosatom.  But the deals between Russia and several African countries are raising concerns from environmentalists who say nuclear energy is not always clean and does not come free.  A Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, Russia, this week brought together the heads of state and government representatives from 55 countries. Speaking at the forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his government was offering African countries an opportunity to use nuclear technology.  “Rosatom is prepared to help our African partners in creating a nuclear industry,” with “the construction of research centers based on multifunctional reactors,” he said.  Planned facilities Rosatom is building a $29 billion nuclear plant for Egypt. The same company is helping Uganda, the Republic of Congo and Rwanda establish nuclear facilities.  Right now, South Africa is the only country in the continent with a nuclear power plant.  FILE – The Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, about 30 kilometers north of Cape Town, is owned and operated by South Africa’s power utility Eksom, Jan. 18, 2007. In Rwanda, Rosatom will construct the Center of Nuclear Science and Technologies.  In Nigeria, a planned Rosatom nuclear reactor may provide the West African nation with electricity.  Environmental activists are wary of these deals. Jakpor Philip of Nigeria’s Environment Rights Action said, “We continue to hear, for instance, that nuclear energy is clean, but in truth, it is not clean because you need a lot of water to keep the nuclear plant cool. You need an independent power to keep powering 24/7. If you need that much power to keep that plant running, then it shows it’s not clean.”   Most African …

VOA Connect Episode 93 – Extraordinary stories of generosity and giving.  …

Under a broad plane tree near Albania’s border with Greece, Jorgji Ilia filled a battered flask from one of the Vjosa River’s many springs.    “There is nothing else better than the river,” the retired schoolteacher said. “The Vjosa gives beauty to our village.”    The Vjosa is temperamental and fickle, changing from translucent cobalt blue to sludge brown to emerald green, from a steady flow to a raging torrent. Nothing holds it back for more than 270 kilometers (170 miles) in its course through the forest-covered slopes of Greece’s Pindus mountains to Albania’s Adriatic coast.    This is one of Europe’s last wild rivers. But for how long?    Albania’s government has set in motion plans to dam the Vjosa and its tributaries to generate much-needed electricity for one of Europe’s poorest countries, with the intent to build eight dams along the main river.  Hydropower boom   It’s part of a world hydropower boom, mainly in Southeast Asia, South America, Africa and less developed parts of Europe. In the Balkans alone, about 2,800 projects to tame rivers are underway or planned, said Olsi Nika of EcoAlbania, a nonprofit that opposes the projects.    Some tout hydropower as a reliable, cheap and renewable energy source that helps curb dependence on planet-warming fossil fuels. But some recent studies question hydropower’s value in the fight against global warming. Critics say the benefits of hydropower are overstated — and outweighed by the harm dams can do.   FILE – The sky is reflected in the Vjosa River after sunset near the village of Badelonje, Albania, June 30, 2019. Rivers are …

Alaska’s famed Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has joined a new global partnership billed as the World Series of long-distance sled dog racing and aimed at bringing more fans to the cold-weather sport. The Iditarod has teamed up with Norway pet food supplement company and series creator, Aker BioMarine, and other races in Minnesota, Norway and Russia for the inaugural QRILL Pet Arctic World Series, or QPAWS, next year. Logistics were still being worked out, but the series will use a joint point system over a still-undetermined time frame, GPS tracking and an online platform to follow the racing teams. Talks with potential broadcast outlets also are under way, organizers say. FILE – Defending Iditarod champion Joar Lefseth Ulsom of Norway greets fans on the trail during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, March 2, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. “Together with Iditarod and the other unique events, we will make QPAWS a winning TV concept in order to build the sport for the future,” series project manager Nils Marius Otterstad said in an email to The Associated Press. He said the Iditarod was approached about the idea a year ago and agreed to move forward on it during this year’s race in March. The other races At 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometers), the Iditarod will be the longest race among those participating the first year, as well as serve as the finale to the series next March. The series also will feature races kicking off in late …

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday the South American nation will drop its requirement that visiting Chinese and Indian tourists or businesspeople obtain visas. Bolsonaro, a far-right politician, came to power at the beginning of the year and has made it a policy to reduce visa requirements from a number of developed countries. But the announcement, made during an official visit to China, is the first he has made expanding that policy to the developing world. Earlier this year, the Brazilian government ended visa requirements for tourists and businesspeople from the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia. Those countries, however, have not in return dropped their visa requirements for Brazilian citizens.   …

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said Thursday that people would be free to exercise their right to demonstrate at imminent anti-government protests, but he warned that violence would not be tolerated.    Protesters had begun to gather in public squares in Baghdad and southern provinces as Abdul Mahdi made his televised address, ahead of officially sanctioned protests on Friday.    Abdul Mahdi has struggled to address discontent since sometimes violent unrest erupted in Baghdad on Oct. 1, spreading to southern cities. Demonstrators blame corrupt officials and political elites for failing to improve their lives.   FILE – Iraqi protesters take part in a demonstration against state corruption, failing public services and unemployment, in Baghdad’s central Khellani Square, Oct. 4, 2019. Despite the OPEC member’s vast oil wealth, many Iraqis live in poverty and have limited access to clean water, electricity, basic health care and decent education as the country tries to recover from years of conflict and economic hardship.    Abdul Mahdi stressed in Thursday’s address that a government collapse would drag Iraq into further turmoil.    “The resignation of the government today without a constitutional alternative will lead the country into chaos,” he said.    He reiterated reforms announced in the aftermath of the protests, including a cabinet reshuffle, job opportunities for unemployed youth and the establishment of a new court to try corrupt officials.    The premier also announced that government salaries, including for top officials, would be gradually halved, with funds redirected to a social security fund for the country’s poorest.    A …