As a new virus spreads inside and outside of China, health officials are scrambling to contain it, but the virus is so new, not much is known about it. VOA’s Carol Pearson tells us what we do know about the coronavirus.
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Discredited Conversion Therapy Banned in Conservative Utah
The discredited practice of conversion therapy for LGBTQ children is now banned in Utah, making it the 19th state and one of the most conservative to prohibit it.
Supporters navigated a winding path to passage and some dissent remains, but barring it in Utah could give a boost to similar efforts in other right-leaning states, said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
“It’s really given people a lot of hope,” said Minter, whose group has pushed for bans around the U.S. Virginia is considering a ban, and the issue could also come up in this year in Texas and Kentucky, he said.
The change in Utah comes after the state hammered out a regulatory rule that had the support of the influential Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Leaders had opposed a previous version because it didn’t have certain exceptions for clergy.
“This is no longer a partisan cause, we all agree on how important it is to protect children from suicide,” said Cliff Rosky, a law professor who sits on the advisory council for the group Equality Utah. He said he’s also been contacted by advocates in Iowa and Nebraska.
Republican Gov. Gary Herbert took the unusual step of calling on regulators after a proposed law was derailed by changes made by conservative lawmakers. State officials confirmed the rule became final late Tuesday.
“Ultimately, I’m grateful to live in a state like Utah where we say you matter to everyone,” said Nathan Dalley, a 20-year-old student who underwent so-called conversion therapy as a teenager and has said it culminated in a suicide attempt.
The original sponsor of the proposal, GOP Utah Rep. Craig Hall, applauded the rule going into effect, saying it prohibits dangerous practices while protecting healthcare professionals.
“It will simply save lives,” he said.
Conversion therapy is a practice used to try to change sexual orientation or gender identity. Many people who have been through it say it deepened feelings of depression and increased thoughts of suicide. The new rule bans licensed Utah therapists from subjecting LGBTQ minors to the practice that the American Psychological Association has said is not based in science and is harmful to mental health. The Utah Psychological Association also spoke in favor of the rule at a news conference on Thursday.
Still, the ban has drawn pushback in Utah. Opponents argued it would prevent parents from getting help for children with “unwanted” gay feelings and keep therapists from even talking about sexuality with their kids. The rule could become an issue during the 2020 legislative session.
Utah’s predominant faith, known widely as the Mormon church, opposes same-sex marriage and teaches that intimate same-sex relationships are a sin. But it also urges members to be kind and compassionate to LGBTQ people. The religion holds tremendous influence in Utah, where the majority of state lawmakers and nearly two-thirds of the state’s 3.1 million residents are members.
The faith got behind the conversion therapy ban after supporters included assurances that church leaders and members who are therapists would be allowed to provide spiritual counseling for parishioners or families.
Greek Islands Stage Protest Against Migrant Pressure
Residents of three Greek islands protested Wednesday against the overcrowding of refugee camps and demanded government action to ease migrant pressure. Most stores were closed and public services were halted on the islands of Lesbos, Chios, and Samos, where some refugee camps have more than 10 times the number of people they were built for. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Greek protesters want a closure of the ports of entry as well as more equal distribution of migrants throughout the country.
US Journalist Arrested in Indonesia Over Alleged Visa Violation
An American journalist working for an environmental website has been arrested over an alleged visa violation in Indonesia that could send him to jail for years, his employer said Wednesday.
Philip Jacobson, 30, was initially detained last month after attending a hearing in Borneo involving the local parliament and the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, Indonesia’s largest indigenous rights advocacy group, the website Mongabay said.
This week, Jacobson was formally arrested and told he faced up to five years in prison for visiting Indonesia with the wrong visa, it added.
He had traveled to the country on a business visa, according to Mongabay.
“We are supporting Philip in this ongoing case and making every effort to comply with Indonesia’s immigration authorities,” said Mongabay chief Rhett A. Butler.
“I am surprised that immigration officials have taken such punitive action against Philip for what is an administrative matter.”
Borneo officials disputed claims the arrest may have been linked to Jacobson’s involvement in sensitive stories about Indonesia’s myriad environmental and corruption woes.
“This is purely an immigration law enforcement matter,” immigration spokesman Muhammad Syukran told AFP.
“There’s no other issue — we don’t have a problem with his work.”
Jacobson had repeatedly entered and left Indonesia on a non-journalist visa, he added.
“While we of course urge all foreign journalists visiting Indonesia to ensure they follow immigration rules, if a journalist is simply attending meetings or happens to be present during a news event this should not be cause for punitive action or detention,” the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Clubs said in a statement.
The U.S. embassy in Jakarta did not immediately comment.
Afghan Government Demands Full Cease-Fire, Taliban Commit to Reduction in Violence
After the Afghan Taliban announced they will observe a seven- to 10-day cease-fire with U.S troops and commit to reduction in violence against Afghan security forces, Afghan officials call the Taliban offer “ambiguous,” and push for a complete cease-fire as a way forward for peace talks.
Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesperson for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, told reporters in Kabul that the Taliban’s commitment to anything short of a full cease-fire would not produce the desired outcome.
“If the Taliban do not agree to a cease-fire, which is the demand of the Afghan people, we cannot put an end to war in Afghanistan, and we would not achieve the desired results,” Sediqqi said.
He specifically took issue with the “reduction of violence” term used by the Taliban, charging the Afghan government has not changed its demand of a complete cease-fire, which is “the most important and fundamental demand of the people of Afghanistan.”
“Does it mean that not 10 but five people will lose their lives? Or it means that there won’t be 10 attacks but five daily?” Sediqqi said.
He said Presidents Donald Trump and Ghani are on the same page regarding a cease-fire, and the issue was broadly discussed during Trump’s visit to Afghanistan in November.
Abdul Subhan Misbah, deputy head of Afghanistan Lawyers Union, told VOA the term “reduction in violence” has no place in Afghanistan’s constitution, and it is rather a political term.
“According to the constitution of Afghanistan, violence or any other criminal activity is a crime, and whoever commits a crime must be prosecuted. And the reduction in violence is not a legal but a political term,” he said.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, is in Qatar’s capital, Doha, holding direct talks with Taliban representatives aimed at reaching an agreement with the insurgent group to end the U.S. war in Afghanistan, which has claimed the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. service members and cost Washington nearly $1 trillion.
By the fall 2019, the U.S. and Taliban had held nine rounds of direct talks in Doha, with both sides appearing closer than at any time in the past 18 years to striking a deal that would have brought an end to the conflict in Afghanistan. President Trump, however, called off the talks in September after the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that killed a U.S. soldier in the country.
The deal at the time revolved around four key issues negotiated by both sides for almost a year, including a guarantee by the Taliban insurgents that foreign militants would not be allowed to use Afghanistan as a safe haven to launch terror attacks outside the country, the complete withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan, the beginning of an intra-Afghan dialogue, and a permanent cease-fire in the country.
Trump’s visit
Direct talks between the U.S. and the Taliban resumed following Trump’s surprise visit to Afghanistan in November, where, alongside Afghan President Ghani, Trump said the Taliban were ready for a “cease-fire.”
“The Taliban wants to make a deal and we’re meeting with them and we’re saying it has to be a cease-fire, and they didn’t want to do a cease-fire, and now they do want to do a cease-fire,” Trump said during a meeting with Ghani at Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
“I believe it probably will work out that way, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump added.
After the deal
Taliban sources with ties to the Taliban leadership told Reuters last week that the insurgent group would implement a 10-day cease-fire with the U.S., and reduce violence against the Afghan government once a deal is signed by both sides in Doha. This marked the first time the insurgent group said it would commit to a cease-fire.
“The U.S. wanted us to announce a cease-fire during the peace talks, which we had rejected. Our shura (council) has agreed to a cease-fire the day the peace accord is signed,” a senior Taliban commander told Reuters.
The commander added that following the agreement with the U.S., the militant group could meet with the Afghan government in Germany. The group has so far refused to talk to the Afghan government, calling it a U.S. puppet regime.
Concerns
Afghan officials fear a U.S.-Taliban peace deal may not bring peace to the country if the Afghan government is not driving the talks with the insurgent group.
“As long as there is no consensus on how to begin and proceed intra-Afghan talks, we cannot get into the second phase and reach peace,” Abdul Qayyum Sajjadi, a member of the Afghan Parliament, told VOA.
Abdulzaher Salangi, another member of the Afghan parliament, said more pressure is needed on the insurgent group.
“It is important that countries involved in the military and politics of Afghanistan, particularly the U.S., to cut the resources of Taliban,” Salangi told VOA.
The Afghan government, however, insists that it would enter the so-called intra-Afghan dialogue with the insurgents as the legitimate government elected by the Afghan people.
Political fighting
The news of a potential cease-fire with the Taliban and subsequent intra-Afghan dialogue comes amid an ongoing political struggle between Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, who both shared power in the contested presidential elections of 2014 and established the National Unity Government (NUG) following months of political crisis that took the country almost to the brink of a civil war.
The two rivals are again fighting over who won the country’s presidential elections held in September 2019 after being postponed several times amid security threats and lack of preparedness by the country’s election commission.
A preliminary result announced in December, after months of delay, declared Ghani the winner. His rival, Abdullah, claims fraud in the counting process. The final results have yet to be announced by the country’s election commission.
Why no cease-fire?
Some former Taliban officials charge the group cannot take the risk of announcing a complete cease-fire, as it would lead to divisions in its ranks. They said reorganizing fighters afterwards, in the event the talks do not achieve the desired objective, would become difficult as well.
“The desired goals gravitated within the resistance core against Americans would be eradicated by cease-fire, and the existing leverage would be eliminated,”Jalaluddin Shinwari, former deputy minister of justice during Taliban regime, told VOA.
Malawi Jalaluddin Haqqani, the regime’s former attorney general, echoed Shinwari’s concerns and charged that a cease-fire would disperse the Taliban fighters and undermine the political goals of the group.
“The desired goals that are there to stand and fight against American military would be lost,” Haqqani said.
VOA’s Haseeb Maudoodi from Kabul and Mehdi Jedinia from Washington contributed to this story. Some materials used in this story came from Reuters.
Lebanon Security Forces Fire Tear Gas, Water Canon at Protesters
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.
Taiwan Urges China to Release All Information on New Virus
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen urged China on Wednesday to release all information about the outbreak of a new virus and work with Taiwan on curbing its spread.
At China’s insistence, Taiwan is not a member of the World Health Organization and is not allowed to participate in any of its meetings. However, large numbers of Taiwanese travel to and live in China, where hundreds of people have been sickened and nine have died in an outbreak that apparently originated in the city of Wuhan.
Despite Beijing’s restrictions, the Taiwan Center for Disease Control said earlier this month it had been notified on Jan. 15 by its Chinese counterpart about the outbreak. It said it had also sent two experts to Wuhan to visit health care facilities in order to “better understand the treatment process of the cases.”
Tsai made no mention of those interactions at her news conference Wednesday. Calls to her spokesman rang unanswered.
“I especially want to urge China, being a member of international society, that it should fulfill its responsibilities to make the situation of the outbreak transparent, and to share accurate information on the outbreak with Taiwan,” Tsai told reporters.
One case of the previously unknown coronavirus has been confirmed in Taiwan and others in Macao, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and the United States. The Taiwanese patient, a businesswoman who recently returned from Wuhan, is recovering, Tsai said.
Sharing information is also important for the health of the Chinese population and Beijing “should not put political concerns above the protection of its own people,” Tsai said.
China regards Taiwan as its own territory and says it is not entitled to representation in most international bodies.
“I want to reiterate that Taiwan is a member of international society. The 23 million people here, like all other people in every corner of the world, are facing threats to their own health,” Tsai said.
Taiwan, which was heavily affected by the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak that also originated in China, has enacted strict monitoring, detection and quarantine measures.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the Taiwanese experts had visited Wuhan at Taiwan’s request on Jan. 13-14 and held exchanges with Chinese colleagues.
“No one cares more about the health welfare of Taiwan compatriots than the Chinese central government,” Geng said at a daily briefing on Wednesday.
Chiu Chui-cheng, deputy minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, told The Associated Press that the visit was facilitated by an existing bilateral agreement covering medicine and public health.
“They dealt with issues related to the health and well-being of both countries’ people,” Chiu said.
China to Hold Coronavirus Emergency Meeting With WHO
The first case to be diagnosed with the Wuhan coronavirus in the United States (in Seattle) was confirmed Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak, which originated in China, has so far spread to other countries including Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines. China says it will attend an emergency World Health Organization summit this week on the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected several hundred and killed at least six. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
Hamas Official Threatens More Explosive Balloons Into Israel
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.
Putin Names New Cabinet as Key Members of Russian Government Stay
Russian President Vladimir Putin formed his new Cabinet Tuesday, replacing many of its members but keeping his foreign, defense and finance ministers in place.
The Cabinet shake-up comes as Putin has launched a sweeping constitutional reform that is widely seen as an attempt to secure his grip on power well after his current term ends in 2024.
Immediately after announcing the proposed changes last week, Putin fired Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who had the job for eight years, and named tax chief Mikhail Mishustin to succeed him.
On Tuesday, Putin issued a decree outlining the structure of the new Cabinet and named its members. He appointed his economic adviser Andrei Belousov as first deputy prime minister and named eight deputy prime ministers, including some new names, such as Dmitry Chernyshenko who was the head of the organizing committee for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov have retained their jobs. Siluanov, however, was stripped of his additional role of first deputy prime minister, which he had in the old Cabinet.
Other leading figures in the previous Cabinet, including Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev and Emergencies Minister Yevgeny Zinichev, also stayed.
Medvedev’s longtime associate, Alexander Konovalov, lost the job of justice minister, and Konstantin Chuikchenko, who was chief of staff, was moved to succeed him.
Others who lost their jobs include Economics Minister Maxim Oreshkin, Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova and Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky.
Putin met with members of the new Cabinet on Tuesday, hailing it as “well-balanced.”
“The most important tasks are to increase the well-being of our people and to strengthen our state and its global standing,” he said.
Putin, 67, has been in power for more than 20 years, longer than any other Russian or Soviet leader since Josef Stalin, who led from 1924 until his death in 1953.
Under the current constitution, Putin must step down as president when his current term ends in 2024, and the set of constitutional changes he proposed last week are widely seen as part of his efforts to continue calling the shots.
Putin’s proposes that parliament will have a broader say over Cabinet appointments, but maintain and even strengthen the powers of the presidency.
Putin also suggested that the constitution must specify the authority of the State Council, an advisory body that consists of regional governors and top federal officials. The Kremlin’s constitutional bill submitted to parliament empowers the council to “determine the main directions of home and foreign policy,” its specific authority yet to be spelled out in a separate law.
Observers say that the proposed changes could allow Putin to stay in charge by shifting into the position of the State Council’s head.
The lower house quickly scheduled the first of three required readings of the constitutional bill for Thursday.
Putin said that the constitutional changes need to be approved by the entire nation, but it wasn’t immediately clear how such a vote would be organized.
Russia’s leading opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, and other Kremlin foes have denounced Putin’s move as an attempt to secure his rule for life, but the proposals didn’t immediately trigger any major protest. The public response was muted by the vagueness of Putin’s constitutional changes, and the dismissal of the unpopular Medvedev also helped divert attention from the suggested amendments.
American Journalist Freed in Lebanon After Questioning
An American freelance journalist who was detained in Lebanon on suspicion of broadcasting live footage of protests to an Israeli news outlet has been released, the journalist said Tuesday.
Nicholas Frakes, 24, told The Associated Press he was released from nearly two days in detention after an official Lebanese investigation showed he was innocent.
Security forces detained Frakes on Sunday night on suspicion of broadcasting live footage to the Israeli Haaretz. Lebanon and Israel are at a state of war and ban their citizens from visiting or contacting the other country and any contact is considered illegal.
“I’m glad that I have been released from custody and extremely grateful for the love and support” from colleagues around the Middle East, said Frakes, who has been living in Lebanon since December 2018. Frakes is originally from Alta Loma, California.
Frakes said in a telephone interview that during his 42-hour detention he was held in solitary confinement in a small room after his telephone, camera and notebook were confiscated. He got all his belongings back upon his release.
“They were kind to me. If I needed a cigarette or some food or water they would get it to me but at the same time I was stuck in a room that had a window but it was blocked so I couldn’t see if it was night or day,” he said. “It was kind of a mixed experience to be fair.”
He added that he was allowed to call his girlfriend and also received a call from an American diplomat.
In a statement released Monday, Lebanon’s State Security department said Frakes was at the scene of the protest near the parliament building, a location from which someone was broadcasting live to the Israeli paper. State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat referred him to Military Intelligence for questioning and investigation, the department said.
Haaretz denied any connection to Frakes, saying the video streaming from the protests on its Facebook page was a feed from an international news agency.
Frakes ‘ arrest came amid intense riots over the weekend near parliament building that left hundreds of people injured. Lebanon has been witnessing three months of protests against the country’s political elite that demonstrators blame for decades of corruption and mismanagement.
The area outside Parliament was packed with journalists, many of them correspondents for international news agencies. International coverage of the three-month old protests in Lebanon has picked up in the past two days as the violence worsened.
Afghan Immigrants Find a Home in Las Vegas
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.