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The U.N. refugee agency says up to 150 refugees and migrants are believed to have lost their lives Thursday in a shipwreck on the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya.
If confirmed, the UNHCR says the shipwreak will be the biggest on the Mediterranean Sea since May 2017, when 156 people died off the coast of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Close to 140 survivors, mainly Eritreans and Sudanese, were pulled from the water.
Migrants watch the body of their fellow migrant who died after a wooden boat capsized off the coast of Komas, a town east of the capital Tripoli, Libya, July 25, 2019.
UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley says the latest tragedy comes weeks after more than 50 people were killed when a detention center in Tajoura, on the outskirts of Tripoli, was hit in an airstrike.
“In addition to the shipwreck … a further 87 people were brought back to Libya by the Libyan coast guard, and 84 of them were transferred to Tajoura,” Yaxley said. “The total population in Tajoura now numbers nearly 300. This is completely unacceptable, and we call for their immediate orderly release.”
There were no search-and-rescue boats operated by nongovernmental organizations in the sea Thursday when the migrant boat ran into trouble, as hard-line governments such as Italy prohibit them from conducting these life-saving missions.
Yaxley says the crucial role of NGO boats must be acknowledged, and their efforts in saving lives must not be stigmatized nor criminalized.
“There also must now be a return of EU state search-and-rescue vessels to the Mediterranean,” he said. “We reiterate once again that no return of refugees and people rescued on the Mediterranean should be to Libya because it has no ports of safety.”
The UNHCR is calling for more action to arrest and prosecute smugglers and traffickers who profit from people’s desperation by facilitating their doomed voyages.
North Korea has formally announced its latest ballistic missile test, saying the launch was a warning to “military warmongers” in South Korea who are set to soon hold joint military exercises with the United States.
North Korean state media showed pictures of Kim Jong Un personally supervising the Thursday test of what it called a “new-type tactical guided weapon.” U.S. and South Korean officials say the projectile was a short-range ballistic missile.
The official Korean Central News Agency said the test was meant “to send a solemn warning to the south Korean military warmongers who are running high fever in their moves to introduce the ultramodern offensive weapons into south Korea and hold military exercise in defiance of the repeated warnings.”
Complaints about South Korea
North Korea has repeatedly complained about South Korea’s recent acquisition of U.S. F-35 fighter jets, as well as upcoming U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises. Pyongyang has warned it may not resume working-level talks with the United States if the drills take place.
“South Korean authorities show such strange double-dealing behavior as acting a ‘handshake of peace’ and fingering joint declaration and agreement and the like before the world people and, behind the scene, shipping ultra-modern offensive weapons and holding joint military exercises,” Kim was quoted as saying by KCNA.
A view of North Korea’s missile launch Thursday, in this undated picture released by North Korea’s Central News Agency, July 26, 2019.
New type of missile
South Korea’s National Security Council expressed “strong concern” about the launch, which it determined was a “new type of short-range ballistic missile.” That is firmer than Seoul’s response after a similar North Korean launch in May. At the time, South Korea referred to the North Korean weapons as “projectiles.”
The U.S. military command in South Korea also assessed that North Korea tested a “new type of missile for the DPRK,” using an acronym for North Korea’s official name. “These two short range ballistic missiles were not a threat directed at the ROK or the U.S., and have no impact on our defense posture,” the statement said.
The test raises further doubts about working-level talks, which were supposed to resume shortly after last month’s meeting between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas.
Trump, Pompeo optimistic
In an interview with the U.S. cable network Fox News, Trump was optimistic, saying he still gets along “very well” with Kim.
“They haven’t done nuclear testing. They really haven’t tested missiles other than, you know, smaller ones. Which is something that lots test,” Trump said.
In an earlier interview with Fox News, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he still believes negotiations will start soon.
“We’re working our way towards that. I think we’ll be able to pull that off in just a handful of weeks,” Pompeo said.
“North Korea has engaged in activity before we were having diplomatic conversations far worse than this. … I think this allows negotiations to go forward. Lots of countries posture before they come to the table,” he said.
Asked about Kim’s unveiling Tuesday of a newly built submarine that is apparently capable of handling nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, Pompeo said: “We all go look at our militaries. And we all take pictures of them.”
UN resolution
Under United Nations Security Council resolutions, North Korea is banned from conducting any ballistic missile activity. But Trump administration officials have said they do not see North Korea’s short-range tests as a breach of trust.
Kim last year declared a moratorium on intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear tests. During their meeting at the DMZ last month, Kim also promised Trump that he would “continue to avoid launching intermediate range and long-range ballistic missiles,” Pompeo said Thursday.
At a State Department briefing Thursday, spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said the Trump administration’s focus is on continued diplomatic engagement with North Korea.
“And we continue to urge the North Koreans to resolve all of the things that the president and Chairman Kim (Jong Un) have talked about through diplomacy. We urge no more provocations, and that all parties should abide by our obligations under Security Council resolutions.”
FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in leave a meeting at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, June 30, 2019.
Trump and Kim have held three meetings since June of last year. At their first meeting, both men agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But neither side has agreed on what that idea means or how to work toward it.
North Korea wants the United States to provide security guarantees and relax sanctions in exchange for partial steps to dismantle its nuclear program. Washington has insisted it will not ease sanctions unless Pyongyang commits to totally abandoning its nuclear program.
North Korea has given the United States until the end of the year to change its approach to the talks. Trump insists he is in no hurry to reach a deal, insisting his friendship with Kim will eventually persuade the young North Korean leader to give up his nuclear weapons.
The thigh bone of a giant dinosaur was found this week by French paleontologists at an excavation site in southwestern France where remains of some of the largest animals that ever lived on land have been dug up since 2010.
The two-meter long femur at the Angeac-Charente site is thought to have belonged to a sauropod, herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and tails which were widespread in the late Jurassic era, over 140 million years ago.
“This is a major discovery,” Ronan Allain, a paleontologist at the National History Museum of Paris told Reuters. “I was especially amazed by the state of preservation of that femur.”
“These are animals that probably weighed 40 to 50 tons,” he said.
Allain said scientists at the site near the city of Cognac have found more than 7,500 fossils of more than 40 different species since 2010, making it one of the largest such finds in Europe.
CARACAS — A proposal to modify U.S. oil sanctions on Venezuela to allow crude exports to be bartered for food has divided the country’s opposition between those who say the move would stave off famine and those who predict President Nicolas Maduro would abuse it.
Henri Falcon, the former governor of western Lara state, said Thursday that he wrote to the United Nations and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs requesting such an exemption for food and medicine imports.
Falcon attained international prominence last year when he broke a boycott to challenge Maduro in a vote many opposition parties deemed a sham. He faces an uphill battle to convince the United States and other opposition politicians of the merits of the program.
The U.N. implemented a similar program in Iraq, another oil-dependent economy, from 1996 to 2003 to help citizens cope with U.N. sanctions after former leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.
Through early 2019, the United States was Venezuela’s largest crude importer. State oil company PDVSA got cash from the oil it sent to U.S. refiners, while it used exports to other major customers like China’s CNPC and Russia’s Rosneft to pay off debt.
But since the Treasury Department sanctioned PDVSA as part of the Trump administration’s bid to pressure Maduro to step down amid a hyperinflationary economic collapse, PDVSA’s shipments to the United States have disappeared, and Venezuela’s crude production has fallen to around half of last year’s levels.
That has reduced the government revenue available to import food and medicine, in short supply for years. Defenders of the sanctions argue that any oil sale proceeds are more likely to be embezzled than used to import humanitarian goods.
Maduro remains in power despite the sanctions and a six-month campaign by Juan Guaido, the president of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, to get the South American country’s armed forces on his side.
“While politicians are seeking to distract attention exclusively, in some cases, toward the political element — but without results, without effect — people are still dying of hunger,” Falcon said in a news conference, arguing that Venezuela was “at the doors of a famine.”
FILE – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido gestures as he speaks during a session of Venezuela’s National Assembly at a public square in Caracas, July 23, 2019.
‘Not viable’
But Guaido’s allies argue the best way to resolve the humanitarian crisis that has prompted more than 4 million to emigrate is to focus on ousting Maduro.
Maduro long rejected offers of humanitarian aid, and recent shipments he has allowed from the Red Cross have not been enough and have been subject to insufficient controls, said Manuela Bolivar, a lawmaker from Guaido’s Popular Will party.
“This program would not guarantee that the people would receive food because you have a structure of incentives to steal,” Bolivar said in a telephone interview.
The U.S. Treasury on Thursday sanctioned 10 people and 13 groups involved in a food distribution program that it said had lined the pockets of Maduro and his family.
Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal. The government blames a U.S. “blockade” for its economic woes, though no U.S. sanctions prevent food and medicine imports.
A senior Trump administration official said Iraq’s program was plagued by “enormous corruption” and called the proposal “not viable” in Venezuela. A U.N. investigation found that companies paid $1.8 billion in kickbacks to Iraqi officials for supply contracts.
Still, Falcon’s Progressive Advance party has taken steps to make its case in Washington. Francisco Rodriguez, chief economist at New York-based Torino Economics and an adviser to Falcon’s 2018 campaign, spoke in favor of an oil-for-food program in front of a bipartisan congressional commission this week.
The party has retained Canadian lobbying firm Dickens & Madson to promote its efforts, according to a July 18 filing with the U.S. Department of Justice.
A separate July 15 filing said the lobbyist “intends to pursue Henri Falcon’s election as president of Venezuela.”
Falcon on Thursday called that filing “false” and attributed the filing to an administrative error. He added that authorities would ensure that the program would not be plagued by corruption like Iraq’s.
Islamic State’s West Africa branch on Thursday claimed responsibility for kidnapping six aid workers in northeast Nigeria.
International aid agency Action Against Hunger said that a staff member and five others kidnapped in Nigeria last week had appeared in a video released on Wednesday evening and that they were “apparently in a good condition of health.”
Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA), which split from Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram in 2016, claimed responsibility for the kidnap in a tweet published by the SITE monitoring group.
The group has carried out a number of attacks in the northeast over the last few months, including on military bases.
It killed a kidnapped aid worker nine months ago.
Action Against Hunger said in a statement that the people were abducted last week near the town of Damasak in northeast Nigeria, where the insurgents were active.
“Action Against Hunger strongly requests that our staff member and her companions are released,” said the agency.
The video was published by The Cable, a Nigerian news organisation, and showed a woman sitting on the floor who identifies herself as “Grace”. Five men sit around her, some with their heads bowed.
Behind them is a sheet with the logo of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.
“We were caught by this army called the Calipha,” she said, before asking that the Nigerian government and Action Against Hunger secure their release. “We don’t know where we are.”
Separately, the Nigerian presidency said in a statement that the government was negotiating for the release of the kidnapped aid workers.
A source told Reuters that a driver was killed during the kidnap and that all six abductees were Nigerians.
The U.S. House on Thursday approved legislation aimed at protecting thousands of Venezuelans living in the United States from deportation by granting them Temporary Protected Status.
The measure was adopted on a 272-158 vote after a debate that required a simple majority for passage. The same bill failed earlier this week when 154 Republicans voted against it under a procedure for quick passage that required approval from two-thirds of the 435 House members. All 158 votes against the bill Thursday were Republicans, while 39 Republicans voted in favor.
Similar legislation has not moved forward in the Senate since it was introduced in February.
Arguments for, against
Temporary Protected Status is usually granted by the Department of Homeland Security to people from countries ravaged by natural disasters or war and lets them remain in the U.S. until the situation improves back home.
Rep. Doug Collin of Georgia, the top Republican on the House judiciary panel, said he opposed the bill because recent court rulings have blocked the Trump administration from terminating the TPS designation for some countries.
“We should not ensure renewal is automatic,” Collins said. “If we do not do that, we can continue the same broken TPS designation process.”
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, a Republican who was a co-sponsor of the measure, urged other members of his caucus to support the bill.
“This is not to be confused with issues dealing with immigration,” Diaz-Balart said. “This is to deal with a specific case of the Venezuelans who are struggling under this oppressive regime and we should not return people back.”
200,000 Venezuelans
The Trump administration was one of the first to recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of the South American nation, a step that has been taken by more than 50 other governments. Those countries contend President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was fraudulent.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates 200,000 Venezuelans currently living in the United States could receive TPS. Under the measure, Venezuelan nationals would be eligible to get migratory relief and work permits valid for 18 months if they have been continuously present in the U.S. since the bill’s enactment and apply paying a $360 fee.
Stuck in the Senate
Rep. Darren Soto, a Florida Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said after the vote that “we want this to be as bipartisan as possible because it gives us a better chance in the Senate.”
The TPS legislation is the fourth Venezuela-related bill adopted by the House so far this year, but none has made it yet to the Senate floor.
“Our hope is the vote today will really light a fire in the Senate to get going on the Venezuela bills,” said Rep. Donna Shalala, also a Florida Democrat.
The United Nations estimates that at least 4 million Venezuelans have left their country in recent years because of a chronic scarcity of food and medicines and a hyperinflation that reached 130,000% last year.
The clamor from “Game of Thrones” fans for a do-over of the drama’s final season has been in vain.
HBO programming chief Casey Bloys said Wednesday there was no serious consideration to remaking the story that some viewers and critics called disappointing.
There are few downsides to having a hugely popular show like “Game of Thrones,” Bloys said, but one is that fans have strong opinions on what would be a satisfying conclusion.
Bloys said during a TV critics’ meeting that it comes with the territory, adding that he appreciates fans’ passion for the saga based on George R.R. Martin’s novels.
Emmy voters proved unswayed by petitioners demanding a remake: They gave “Game of Thrones” a record-breaking 32 nominations earlier this month. The series also hit record highs for HBO.
HBO will want to keep the fan fervor alive for the prequel to “Game of Thrones” that’s in the works. The first episode completed taping in Ireland and the dailies look “really good,” Bloys said. The planned series stars Naomi Watts and is set thousands of years before the original.
Asked whether negative reaction to the “Game of Thrones” conclusion will shape the prequel, Bloys replied, “Not at all.”
LGBT activists in the Republic of Georgia this summer have been looking for ways to hold a parade on the streets of the capital, Tbilisi. While pride parades are common across the West, activists in Georgia face strong opposition from the government and a deeply traditional society. In a report narrated by Steve Redisch, Ricardo Marquina in Tbilisi looks at the difficult road ahead for those promoting the rights of homosexual, bisexual and transgender people.
As part of sweeping reforms, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed Meaza Ashenafi to be the first woman to lead the country’s Supreme Court. This charismatic lawyer has built a career advocating for women. VOA’S Salem Solomon has this profile.
Electric power is slowly returning in Venezuela after a devastating blackout that ground activity to a virtual halt in a country beleaguered by a protracted political power struggle. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports that the Trump administration is renewing calls for the departure of embattled socialist ruler Nicolas Maduro, who remains defiant, insisting that conditions in Venezuela will improve.
Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party leader, began assembling his political team as soon as he took office Wednesday. New Cabinet members include the country’s first ethnic minority person to head the Treasury and several women. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Johnson’s first day on the job was marked by demonstrations by his supporters, as well as his opponents.
