In just one day, the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in China grew by almost 4,000 and the death toll climbed by nearly 75. As the virus continued to spread Thursday, the World Health Organization said it’s still too early to tell if the virus outbreak has peaked, even though on Wednesday the overall number of new cases dropped for the first time. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo has more
From: MeNeedIt
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday advocated a more coordinated European Union defense strategy in which France, the bloc’s only post-Brexit nuclear power, and its arsenal would hold a central role.
Addressing military officers graduating in Paris, Macron set out his country’s nuclear strategy in a bid to show leadership one week after nuclear-armed Britain officially exited the EU.
Macron highlighted how France sees its nuclear weapons as a deterrent against attacks from belligerent foes, though he conceded France’s nuclear might is diminished after its military scaled down its arsenal to under 300 nuclear weapons.
But the speech aimed to project strength, as Macron refused to sign any treaty at this stage to further reduce the French arsenal, announced an increase in military spending and positioned himself as the driving force for a united EU, using France’s military clout to make his point. Macron also touted the French military’s role in spots such as Africa’s Sahel, where he has just pledged an additional 600 troops to fight extremists.
The central idea in the keynote speech, however, was that of a boosted Europe-wide role for the French nuclear arsenal in a more coordinated European defense policy.
Macron said it the strategy would prevent Europe “confining itself to a spectator role” in an environment dominated by Russia, the United States and China.
“Europeans must collectively realize that, in the absence of a legal framework, they could quickly find themselves exposed to the resumption of a conventional, even nuclear, arms race on their soil,” Macron warned.
His remarks come at a time when NATO allies, who would ordinarily look to the United States for help in a nuclear standoff, worry about Washington’s retreat from the multilateral stage. This could create new tensions within NATO, where Macron ruffled feathers last year by saying the lack of U.S. leadership is causing the “brain death” of the military alliance.
Last year, Russia and the US pulled out of the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, dating from the era of the Soviet Union, and each blamed the other for its failure. Evoking the tearing-up of the INF treaty, Macron said he wanted the Europeans to propose their own “international arms control agenda together.”
Friday’s speech was part of Macron’s long-running push for a stronger European defense, as U.S. President Donald Trump has pulled away from European allies and admonished them to pay more for their own protection.
Macron explained his vision as “an offer of dialogue” and “service” to Europeans to assert their autonomy “in defense and arms control.”
From: MeNeedIt
JAMMU, INDIA — Indian authorities have arrested two former top elected officials of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir under a controversial law that allows authorities to imprison someone for up to two years without trial, officials said Friday.
Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were arrested as their 6-month-old detention ended Thursday, a top civil administrator and top police officers said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Mufti and Abdullah were among thousands of people detained when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of semi-autonomy and statehood, downgrading them into two federal territories last August.
Since, they had been held under house arrest under a preventive custody law that allows authorities to detain people who might commit offenses for up to six months.
Past statements cited
On Thursday, Modi gave an indication of their arrest when he said in Parliament that the two leaders had in the past made statements that could incite unrest in the region.
Modi cited Mehbooba Mufti accusing India of cheating Kashmir last summer. He said Omar Abdullah had remarked that ending Kashmir’s autonomy would cause an earthquake that would separate Kashmir from India, though there is no indication Abdullah made any such statement.
“Some people here complain some leaders have been incarcerated. Mehbooba Mufti said, ‘Kashmir made a mistake by joining India.’ Are you justifying such kind of speech?” Modi said in Parliament.
Pro-India politicians
Omar Abdullah’s father, Farooq Abdullah, was the first pro-India politician arrested under the Public Safety Act, under which rights activists say more than 20,000 Kashmiris have been detained in the last two decades. They are considered pro-India as they never supported Muslim-majority Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan.
They are the top leaders of the National Conference, the party that has governed the Indian-controlled Kashmir for decades since India and Pakistan won independence from British colonialists in 1947 and soon began fighting over control over Kashmir, a Himalayan region spread over both countries. Farooq Abdullah, also a former top elected official of Jammu and Kashmir, is an 82-year-old member of India’s Parliament.
Mufti, 60, heads the People’s Democratic Party, which was a coalition partner of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the region for nearly two years after the 2016 state elections. Mufti headed the coalition government.
Two former state lawmakers and party leaders, Ali Mohammed Sagar of the NC and Sartaj Madani of the PDP, also were detained under the controversial Public Security Act on Wednesday.
‘Lawless law’
Amnesty International has called the Public Safety Act a “lawless law,” and rights groups say India has used it to stifle dissent and circumvent the criminal justice system, undermining accountability, transparency and respect for human rights.
On Friday, the main opposition Congress party slammed the government’s decision.
“Shocked and devastated by the cruel invocation of the Public Safety Act against Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others,” said P. Chidambaram, a top party leader.
“Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy. When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?” Chidambaram tweeted.
From: MeNeedIt
Women are slowly moving into Afghanistan’s male-dominated restaurant industry. And one entirely women-run restaurant in central Afghanistan’s Bamyan province is attracting food lovers from the region. VOA’s Zafar Bamyani gives us a taste of the restaurant in this report narrated by Bezhan Hamdard
From: MeNeedIt
Human rights groups have strongly criticized Italy for extending a deal with Libya that facilitates the return of migrants to detention centers, where these migrants say torture and rape are commonplace. The European Union has sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Libya to boost its coastguard capabilities and clamp down on human smuggling – but critics say the money is ending up with criminal gangs. More from Henry Ridgwell
From: MeNeedIt
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani laid foundation stone Thursday for building a key transmission line linking Central Asia and South Asia under a four-nation electricity generation project, known as CASA-1000.
The $1.2 billion plan aims to bring some 300 megawatts (MW) annually of much-needed electricity to Afghanistan and 1,000 MW to Pakistan from surplus generation in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The project is being financed by multilateral development banks, the United States and other countries.
Afghan officials said diplomats from the participating nations also were present at the groundbreaking site, east of the capital, Kabul.
Ghani was quoted as saying the CASA-1000 project would go a long way toward promoting connectivity, energy cooperation and prosperity in all of the countries involved.
Thursday’s landmark development comes as relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to suffer from mutual suspicions and a trust deficit. The tensions stem from allegations Islamabad provides support to the Afghan Taliban and Kabul harbors anti-Pakistan militants.
Speaking to VOA after the ceremony, Pakistani ambassador to Kabul, Zahid Nasrullah Khan, said despite mutual tensions and disagreements, his government is determined to work closely with Afghanistan on projects like the CASA-1000 to promote regional connectivity.“
We are neighbors. Our destinies are tied and we have to work together to take our countries forward, and our opportunities are also interlinked. So, we will continue to push the relationship on the positive track,” Khan stressed.
The ambassador also underlined efforts Pakistan is making in facilitating a U.S.-led Afghan peace and political reconciliation process aimed at ending the 18-year-old war in the neighboring country. “
There is no other choice but peace. This is the only way forward. I am sure that all parties and all important regional countries, including Pakistan, are very much committed to taking this process forward,” Khan said.
When completed, CASA-1000 would doubly benefit war-ravaged Afghanistan as a consumer and as a transit country generating revenue.
Under the long-planned project, a transmission line more than 1,200 kilometers long connecting the four countries would be used to export of electricity to Afghanistan and Pakistan during the summer months when Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have extra capacity. The two Central Asian nations have more power generation than they can use as melting ice swells rivers that flow through their hydroelectric generators.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has overcome its energy crisis as billions of dollars in Chinese investment over the past five years have led to the construction of nine new coal-based power plants in the country. Several more also are under construction, adding thousands of megawatts of new electricity to the national grid.
Islamabad recently has asked Tajikistan to revise certain clauses in the agreement under CASA-1000 project so surplus Pakistani electricity could be exported through the same transmission line, bringing much needed energy to people in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan during the harsh winters when they typically have an energy deficit.
From: MeNeedIt
In Leesburg, Virginia, near Washington DC, it’s well above freezing but that has not stopped scores of artists and carvers who come each year during the winter to turn ice into magic. Maxim Moskalkov visited the city’s annual ice festival and talked to the sculptors about their evanescent masterpieces
From: MeNeedIt
A travel ban on non-U.S. citizens who have been to China within the past 14 days is the latest reaction to the coronavirus outbreak as fear of the disease continues to spread. Another symptom of that fear is face masks worn in airports and in crowded places by some people in the U.S. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where more than 13% of the student population are foreign students from China.
From: MeNeedIt
Britain’s government announced Wednesday that it is considering a change in the way the BBC is funded that would hit the coffers of the nation’s public broadcaster.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative administration, which is increasingly at odds with the country’s news media, said it would hold a “public consultation” on whether to decriminalize non-payment of the annual levy that funds the BBC.
The BBC gets most of its money from the “license fee” paid by every television-owning household, which currently stands at 154.50 pounds ($202) a year. Failing to pay can result in a fine or, in rare cases, a prison sentence.
The government argues that “the broadcasting landscape has changed dramatically,” with the rise of Netflix and other streaming services, triggering a decline in traditional television viewing.
“As we move into an increasingly digital age, with more and more channels to watch and platforms to choose from, the time has come to think carefully about how we make sure the TV licence fee remains relevant in this changing media landscape,” Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan said. “Many people consider it wrong that you can be imprisoned for not paying for your TV licence and that its enforcement punishes the vulnerable.”
The government noted that “decriminalization of TV license fee evasion would have an impact on BBC funding.” It is not proposing any way to make up the gap.
The BBC said a government-commissioned review of its funding a few years ago had “found the current system to be the fairest and most effective.”
The BBC is Britain’s largest media organization, producing news, sports and entertainment across multiple TV, radio and digital outlets.
Its size and public funding annoy private-sector rivals, who argue the broadcaster has an unfair advantage.
The relationship between Britain’s government and the media has become increasingly frosty since Johnson became prime minister in July. His office has restricted access for journalists to government ministers and advisers.
Ministers have been barred from appearing on the BBC’s flagship morning radio program, “Today,” because of its alleged anti-Conservative bias.
Last week some media outlets, including The Associated Press, declined to broadcast a pre-recorded address to the nation by Johnson marking Britain’s departure from the European Union because the government refused to allow independent media outlets to film or photograph the statement.
On Monday, the government invited selected journalists to a briefing about trade negotiations with the EU, breaking with the tradition that briefings are open to all reporters covering Parliament. The invited journalists walked out after officials refused to admit their colleagues, and the briefing was canceled.
From: MeNeedIt
A regional human rights organization said Tuesday that Venezuela has denied entry to a delegation that sought to review the human rights situation in the crisis-torn country.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said the delegation would instead meet on the Colombian border with representatives of civic groups.
The delegation’s leader, Esperanza Arosemena, posted a picture and message on social media saying the group had been prevented from boarding a Copa Airlines flight to Venezuela in Panama.
She said they were informed by the airline that it “received instructions from the Venezuelan regime that we were not authorized to enter the country.”
The government of President Nicolas Maduro had previously indicated it would not authorize a visit by the commission, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States.
The OAS recognizes Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate president.
Maduro withdrew his government’s diplomats from the organization last year, and its seat was taken over by a representative designated by Guaido.
In a statement, the rights commission said the delegation’s visit was organized at the invitation of Gustavo Tarre, Guaido’s representative.
From: MeNeedIt