Month: July 2021

Raul Castro was among thousands who attended a government-organized rally in Havana on Saturday to denounce the U.S. trade embargo and reaffirm their support for Cuba's revolution, a week after unprecedented protests rocked the communist-run country. Government supporters gathered on the city's seafront boulevard before dawn to wave Cuban flags and photos of late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and his brother Raul. The latter retired as Communist Party leader in April but promised to continue fighting for the revolution as a "foot soldier." The rally was a reaction to demonstrations that erupted nationwide last Sunday amid widespread shortages of basic goods, demands for political rights and the island nation's worst coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic. The government admitted some shortcomings this week but mostly blamed the protests on…

Temple elephants in southern India's Kerala state began their monthlong wellness camp at Vadakkunnathan temple, Saturday, July 17.  Eating fruits, rice sweet balls, and other items, the elephants were seen happily interacting with people.  The elephants are ritualistically relieved from daily chores for a monthlong restorative treatment called Aanayoottu, beginning from Saturday.  Aanayoottu means feeding the elephants with specially prepared food, which is known for its high medicinal value. This medicinal concoction is regarded as vital for enhancing the well-being of elephants.  The formulation is administered to the animals to protect and improve their health during the monsoon months when they are not taken for any temple processions, of which they are an essential part, and are provided with full rest.  (Reuters)   ...

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Forces in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have released about 1,000 government soldiers captured during recent fighting, the head of its ruling party said, as both sides prepared for a showdown over contested land in the west of the region. Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters by satellite phone late Friday they have released 1,000 low-ranking soldiers. "More than 5,000 [soldiers] are still with us, and we will keep the senior officers who will face trial," he said. He said the soldiers had been driven to Tigray's southern border with the Amhara region on Friday, but he did not say who received them or how the release was negotiated. Reuters could not independently confirm his account. A military spokesman said he was not immediately available…

Issues in the News moderator Kim Lewis talks with VOA Congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson and correspondent for Marketplace Kimberly Adams about the ongoing battle between Democrats and Republicans over voting rights legislation, what's next after Senate Democrats agree to a $3.5 trillion human infrastructure package, the impact of the crises in Haiti and Cuba on the Biden Administration, and much more. ...

Rescue workers searched flood-ravaged parts of western Germany for survivors on Saturday as water levels remained high in many towns and houses continued to collapse in the country's worst natural disaster in half a century. At least 133 people have died in the flooding, including some 90 people in the Ahrweiler district south of Cologne, according to police estimates on Saturday. Hundreds of people are still missing. Around 700 residents were evacuated late on Friday after a dam broke in the town of Wassenberg near Cologne, authorities said. Over the past several days the floods, which have mostly hit the states of Rhineland Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, have cut off entire communities from power and communications. The flooding has also hit parts of Belgium and the Netherlands. At least 20…

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Pope Francis cracked down Friday on the spread of the old Latin Mass, reversing one of Pope Benedict XVI’s signature decisions in a major challenge to traditionalist Catholics who immediately decried it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy. Francis reimposed restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass that Benedict relaxed in 2007 and went further to limit its use. The pontiff said he was acting because Benedict’s reform had become a source of division in the church and been exploited by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernized the church and its liturgy. Critics said they had never witnessed a pope so thoroughly reversing his predecessor. That the reversal concerned something so fundamental as the liturgy, while Benedict is still alive and living…

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A federal judge in Texas on Friday ordered an end to an Obama-era program that prevented the deportations of some immigrants brought into the United States as children. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled in favor of Texas and eight other conservative states that had sued to halt the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides limited protections to about 650,000 people. People who are already enrolled won't lose protections, but Hanen is barring the processing of new applications. Hanen's decision limits the immediate ability of President Joe Biden, who pledged during his campaign to protect DACA, to keep the program or something similar in place. His ruling is the second by a federal judge in Texas stopping Biden's immigration plans, after a court barred enforcement of Biden's 100-day…

Professor William LeoGrande, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs in the Department of Government at the American University, and Professor of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University, Eduardo Gamarra, analyze with host Carol Castiel the roots and ramifications of twin crises in the Caribbean: the assassination of Haiti’s President, Jovenal Moïse, and ensuing power struggle and the largest and most widespread protests in Cuba in decades. How does the turmoil affect US policy toward the region? Given the large Cuban and Haitian Diaspora communities in the United States, how does the Biden Administration deal with both domestic and international dimension of policy?  ...

At least seven Colombian nationals who were arrested by Haitian authorities in connection with the assassination of President Jovenel Moise received U.S. military or police training. A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, told VOA Friday that all seven had been members of the Colombian military at the time they received the training. “Individuals had been approved for a variety of training activities held both in Colombia and the United States between 2001-2015," the official said. "Examples of the types of training received were various types of military leadership and professional development training, emergency medical training, helicopter maintenance, and attendance at seminars on counternarcotics and counterterrorism.” The official said both the State Department and the Department of Defense are continuing to…

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan defended Friday his government’s efforts to promote a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan, rebutting allegations that Islamabad was backing the Taliban’s violent insurgency to fuel hostilities in the neighboring country. Khan spoke at an international regional connectivity conference hosted by Uzbekistan, shortly after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani addressed the event and accused Pakistan of “playing a negative” role in the war. The Afghan leader said that “intelligence estimates indicate the influx of over 10,000 jihadi fighters from Pakistan and other places in the last month.” Ghani went on to allege that despite pledges and assurances, Khan’s government had failed to influence the Taliban to “negotiate seriously” to find an end to the Afghan war. Khan responded by saying he was “disappointed” by the…

Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was scheduled to arrive Friday in Haiti after spending nearly a month in Cuba for medical treatment, an associate of his told The Associated Press. Joel Edouard "Pacha" Vorbe, an executive committee member of Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party, said Aristide was expected to arrive by plane. "He is completely recovered," Vorbe said, though he said he didn't have details about Aristide's condition. Aristide's return adds a potentially volatile element to an already tense situation in a country facing a power vacuum following the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Aristide has long been one of Haiti's most polarizing politicians and is still popular with some groups.   The twice-elected, twice-ousted leader returned to Haiti from exile in 2011 and has largely kept a low…

The World Meteorological Organization is calling for action to halt climate change as extreme weather becomes the norm rather than the exception.  Heavy rainfall this week has triggered devastating floods across western Europe, killing and injuring scores of people, destroying homes and livelihoods.  At the same time, parts of Scandinavia -- northern Europe’s coldest region -- are enduring scorching temperatures. The Finnish Meteorological Institute says Finland had its warmest June on record, which has extended into July.   Southern Finland it notes has had 27 consecutive days with temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius.  By Finland’s normally frigid temperatures, that qualifies as a heatwave. The western U.S. and Canada also have been gripped by heat, with many records broken in states of Nevada and Utah. Last August, Death Valley, California reached a…

Australian cybersecurity experts are calling for more aggressive government action to protect businesses from ransomware attacks. Experts have warned a "tsunami of cybercrime" has cost the global economy about $743 billion. Big companies can be attractive targets for cybercriminals who can extort millions of dollars after stealing sensitive commercial information. The Cybersecurity Cooperative Research Centre is a collaboration between industry representatives, the Australian government and academics. Its chief executive, Rachael Falk, believes Australia is an easy target for hackers because cyber defenses can be weak. “More often than not, it is by sending an email where an employee clicks on a link,” she said. “They get into that organization, they have a good look around and they work out what is valuable data here that we can encrypt, which means…

Iran appears to be intensifying its effort to exploit U.S. and Western targets in cyberspace, running a campaign aimed at manipulating American military personnel and defense companies on social media. Tehran's latest campaign, orchestrated on Facebook by a group known as Tortoiseshell, used a series of sophisticated, fake online personas to make contact with U.S. servicemembers and employees of major defense companies in order to infect their computers with malware and extract information. "This activity had the hallmarks of a well-resourced and persistent operation, while relying on relatively strong operational security measures to hide who's behind it," Facebook said Thursday in a blog post, calling it part of a "much broader cross-platform cyber espionage operation." Personas used Employees of defense companies in the U.K. and other European countries were also…

A Chinese gene company is collecting genetic data through prenatal tests from women in more than 50 countries for research on the traits of populations, raising concern that such a large DNA database could give China a technological advantage and the strategic edge to dominate global pharmaceuticals, according to a recent news report. Analysts expressed unease with the developments exclusively reported by Reuters at BGI Group, the Chinese gene company, which is collecting genetic data via its NiPT prenatal test with the brand name NIFTY (Non-Invasive Fetal TrisomY). The tests, sold in more than 50 countries, can detect abnormalities such as Down syndrome in the fetus by capturing DNA from the placenta in the bloodstream about 10 weeks into a pregnancy. The tests are sold in 52 countries, including Germany, Spain…