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For the past 20 years, young people in Venezuela have been on the front lines of protests to demand change in the socialist-run country. But many university students interviewed by VOA in Caracas say they are disillusioned by the lack of change and have stopped taking part in protests because of government repression and fears for their safety. From Caracas, reporter Adriana Nunez Rabascall has the story, narrated by Cristina Caicedo Smit.
From: MeNeedIt
The European Union on Thursday condemned renewed fighting around a rebel stronghold in northwest Syria, demanding an end to “unacceptable” air strikes that have killed civilians.
The regime of President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, is tightening the noose around Idlib, the last major rebel-held bastion in Syria’s civil war, with air strikes killing at least 23 civilians on Tuesday.
“The renewal of the offensive in Idlib, including repeated air strikes and shelling targeting civilians are unacceptable and must cease,” an EU spokesman said in a statement.
“The EU will keep the sanctions against the Assad regime under review as long as these brutal attacks continue.”
Most of Idlib and parts of Aleppo province are still controlled by factions opposed to Assad.
The Damascus regime, which controls around 70 percent of the country after nearly nine years of war, has repeatedly vowed to recapture the region.
Idlib hosts at least three million people, many of whom have fled other parts of the country and are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.
The EU demanded “rapid, safe and unhindered access” for humanitarian organisations and stressed the need for a political solution to the conflict.
The surge in violence comes despite a ceasefire announced by Moscow earlier this month that never really took hold, and there are warnings that a ground offensive could be imminent.
From: MeNeedIt
Russian lawmakers have unanimously approved in its first reading a sweeping constitutional reform bill put forward by President Vladimir Putin.
All 432 lawmakers present in the State Duma voted in favor of the bill on Thursday, just three days after the amendments were presented to parliament.
“This was a powerful show of unity,” Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said after the vote. Volodin said the second reading was expected on February 11.
The bill will then face a third reading, but with parliament dominated by Kremlin-loyal lawmakers it is unlikely to face much pushback.
Once approved in three readings in the Duma, the bill will go to the Federation Council – the upper house of parliament – before being signed into law by Putin.
Putin’s announcement of the reforms during his state-of-the-nation address on January 15 was quickly followed by the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s government and the appointment of a new premier and cabinet.
The rapid sequence of changes has prompted observers to say that Putin may be laying the groundwork to hold on to power after his current term expires in 2024.
The Russian leader says that under the plan, more responsibilities will be given to parliament and other state bodies, while also maintaining a strong presidency.
The president has promised a referendum on the reforms, with some officials suggesting it could take place within weeks.
Putin suggested altering the constitution because “things have changed dramatically” since it was adopted in 1993.
He outlined some proposals, including strengthening the State Council, currently an advisory body and giving more authority to parliament.
Some analysts have suggested Putin could head the Council after 2024 to maintain his grip on power.
The text of the bill on the parliament’s website provides for lawmakers confirming the prime minister rather than the president, although the president can still reject any candidate.
Putin formed a “working group” of 75 people that includes athletes and celebrities to work on the amendments.
From: MeNeedIt
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence joins nearly 50 world leaders attending the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem Thursday to mark the 75th anniversary of the Allies’ liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp at the end of the Second World War. The gathering at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial comes amid a rise in tensions with Iran and an increase in anti-Semitism in both Europe and the United States. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem.
From: MeNeedIt
Security forces in Beirut’s capital fired water cannon and tear gas at angry protesters outside parliament Wednesday, where a new government was being formed.
The demonstrators rallied near the parliament building in the early hours to protest the new government. They hurled stones, firecrackers and sticks at police and tried to remove the newly erected barricades placed outside parliament, where Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government had been installed just hours earlier.
Diab’s new government, which is scheduled to meet for the first time on Wednesday, ended an impasse triggered by the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri last October.
Protesters have been calling for sweeping reforms and a government made up of independent technocrats that could deal with Lebanon’s crippling economic and financial crisis, the worst the country has faced in decades.
A liquidity crunch has led banks to restrict access to cash and the Lebanese pound to slump. Jobs have been lost and inflation has soared.
From: MeNeedIt
The United States urged China on Tuesday to join trilateral nuclear arms talks with Moscow, calling Beijing’s secrecy around growing stockpiles a “serious threat to strategic stability.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said last year he had discussed a new accord on limiting nuclear arms with Russian President Vladimir Putin and hoped to extend that to China in what would be a major deal between the globe’s top three atomic powers. But China has so far refused to take part.
“We think, given the fact that China’s nuclear stockpile is estimated to double over the next ten years, now is the time to have that trilateral discussion,” Robert Wood, U.S. disarmament ambassador, told reporters on the opening day of the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
He said that Washington had discussed the potential trilateral talks in a security meeting with Russia last week and had reached an “understanding” about pursuing them. “We cannot afford to wait,” he added.
Asked how to go about pressuring Beijing to join, Wood said that he hoped Russia, and others, would help. “Hopefully over time and through the influence of others besides the United States, they (China) will come to the table. We think it’s imperative for global security that the Chinese do that.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that Russia would take part in potential trilateral talks but that he “won’t force China to change” its current position.
China has previously said its weapons were the “lowest level” of its national security needs and not comparable to those of Russia and the United States.
The United Nations is seeking the total elimination of nuclear arms but talks have been deadlocked for more than 20 years.
Other talks between the five declared nuclear powers that have ratified the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – China, United States, Russia, France and the United Kingdom – are ongoing and a meeting is planned in London next month.
However, Wood said this was not the right framework for nuclear arms talks with Beijing.
In his speech, China’s disarmament Ambassador Li Song did not refer to its own nuclear stockpiles but called for cooperation among nuclear powers and made a thinly-veiled swipe at the Trump administration.
Li called for a commitment to multilateralism, “with no exceptions, least of all the big power which shoulders a special responsibility for international peace and security and who is not expected to play the role of a ‘spoiler’ to our collective efforts and to withdraw from treaties.”
From: MeNeedIt
On this edition of Healthy Living, we discuss alternative therapy – a set of products, practices, and theories not part of standard medical care but believed to have healing effects of medicine. First, to Zimbabwe for a look at how horses provide healing to children with disabilities and then to Nigeria where people are using creative arts to help with chronic illness. And, teenagers need more exercise according to the World Health Organization. Lastly, genetically sterilized mosquitoes could help fight Malaria. These topics and more on Healthy Living this week. S1, E24
From: MeNeedIt
Incendiary balloons Palestinians launched from the Gaza Strip recently were a signal to Israel to accelerate unofficial “understandings” meant to ease the crippling blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory, a senior official from the Islamic militant group said Tuesday.
The resumption of flammable balloons and other explosive devices flown across the border broke a month of calm that has largely prevailed since Hamas suspended its weekly protests along the Israeli-Gaza frontier.
The quiet is meant to bolster an informal truce between Israel and Hamas being negotiated by international mediators.
Speaking to journalists, Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya accused the Israelis of moving too slowly.
He said the balloons had been launched by disgruntled individuals, not Hamas. But he said his group was “satisfied” with the launches and is ready to send more “if the occupation doesn’t pick up the message.”
Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after Hamas, a militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, seized control of the territory in 2007. The blockade, combined with Hamas mismanagement, has devastated the local economy.
After three wars and dozens of smaller skirmishes, the bitter enemies have been working through Qatari, Egyptian and U.N. mediators to reach a series of “understandings” that would ease the blockade in exchange for guarantees of quiet. Al-Hayya said Hamas expects Israel to allow in more medical supplies, unlimited trade between Gaza and the world, help create more jobs and extend Qatari payments for electricity and poor families.
The incendiary balloons have not caused any damage or injuries on the Israeli side. But last week, an Israeli military helicopter struck an alleged Hamas target in Gaza in response to the resumption of the launches.
The U.N.’s Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, called the renewed balloon launches “concerning and regrettable” in a briefing to the Security Council on Tuesday. “These actions are a risk to the civilian population,” he said.
For the past 20 months, Hamas organized weekly demonstrations along the fence, demanding an end to the blockade.
The protests often turned violent, including burning of tires, throwing of explosives and launching of hundreds of incendiary balloons that torched large swaths of Israeli farmland. Over 200 Palestinians, mostly unarmed, were killed by Israeli fire during the marches and hundreds of others were badly wounded. Israel, which drew international accusations of using excessive force, has said it is defending itself from attacks and attempts to breach the border.
Hovering around 50%, Gaza’s unemployment rate is one of the world’s highest and most of of its 2 million people rely on humanitarian assistance.
From: MeNeedIt
A Mexican human rights organization on Monday urged authorities to investigate the disappearance of an environmental activist dedicated to protecting the famed monarch butterfly, suggesting the case may be linked to illegal logging in the area.
Homero Gomez, who manages a butterfly sanctuary in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, disappeared Jan. 13, according to the Human Rights State Commission of Michoacan.
The organization has asked the attorney general’s office to determine if Gomez’s disappearance is linked to his role in defending Mexico’s forests, commission official Mayte Cardona told Reuters.
“He was probably hurting the (business) interests of people illegally logging in the area,” Cardona said.
Illegal logging and trafficking is rife in Michoacan, a state plagued by organized crime.
“The investigation is ongoing,” a source with the state prosecutor said.
Environmentalists say illegal logging hurts the habitat of the monarch butterfly, which migrates thousands of kilometers from Canada across the United States to reproduce in Mexico.
From: MeNeedIt
Asthma can usually be controlled with an inhaler, or, sometimes, with medication. When neither works, it might be that the patient doesn’t have asthma at all. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports that researchers have found another disease with the same symptoms as asthma actually starts in the stomach.
From: MeNeedIt
Las Vegas, Nevada is often called ‘Sin City.’ It’s known as a place where people behave in more self-indulgent or decadent ways, famously summed up in the saying, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” But some Afghan immigrants who lead quiet religious lives have a different view of this gambling mecca. VOA’s Samir Rassoly visited a few local Afghan businesses and filed this report from Las Vegas.
From: MeNeedIt