Matshidiso Moeti from WHO Criticizes Travel Bans on Southern African Countries

JOHANNESBURG, LELEMUKU.COM — The World Health Organization on Sunday urged countries around the world not to impose flight bans on southern African nations due to concerns over the new omicron variant.

WHO's regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, called on countries to follow science and international health regulations in order to avoid using travel restrictions.

“Travel restrictions may play a role in slightly reducing the spread of COVID-19 but place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods,” Moeti said in a statement. “If restrictions are implemented, they should not be unnecessarily invasive or intrusive, and should be scientifically based, according to the International Health Regulations, which is a legally binding instrument of international law recognized by over 190 nations.”

Moeti praised South Africa for following international health regulations and informing WHO as soon as its national laboratory identified the omicron variant.

“The speed and transparency of the South African and Botswana governments in informing the world of the new variant is to be commended," said Moeti. "WHO stands with African countries which had the courage to boldly share life-saving public health information, helping protect the world against the spread of COVID-19.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called the restrictions “completely unjustified."

“The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant,” said in a speech Sunday evening. "The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries, and undermine the ability to respond to, and also to recover from, the pandemic.”

Cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in countries on opposite sides of the world Sunday and many governments rushed to close their borders even as scientists cautioned that it’s not clear if the new variant is more alarming than other versions of the virus.

While investigations continue into the omicron variant, WHO recommends that all countries “take a risk-based and scientific approach and put in place measures which can limit its possible spread.”

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, emphasized that there is no data yet that suggests the new variant causes more serious illness than previous COVID-19 variants.

“I do think it’s more contagious, when you look at how rapidly it spread through multiple districts in South Africa,” Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Israel decided to bar entry to foreigners, and Morocco said it would suspend all incoming flights for two weeks starting Monday — among the most drastic of a growing raft of travel curbs being imposed as nations scrambled to slow the variant’s spread. Scientists in several places — from Hong Kong to Europe — have confirmed its presence. The Netherlands reported 13 omicron cases on Sunday, and Australia found two.

The U.S. plans to ban travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries starting Monday.

“With the omicron variant now detected in several regions of the world, putting in place travel bans that target Africa attacks global solidarity," said Moeti. “COVID-19 constantly exploits our divisions. We will only get the better of the virus if we work together for solutions.”

WHO said it scaling up its support for genomic sequencing in Africa so sequencing laboratories have access to adequate human resources and testing reagents to work at full capacity. WHO also said is ready to offer additional help, reinforcing COVID-19 responses including surveillance, treatment, infection prevention and community engagement in southern African countries, it said.(VOA)

Maryam Nuri, Kurdish Woman Is First Channel Victim to Be Named by British Media

LONDON, LELEMUKU.COM - A Kurdish woman from northern Iraq, who was among 27 migrants who died trying to cross the Channel between France and Britain this week, has become the first victim to be named by British media.

Their dinghy deflated as they made a perilous crossing Wednesday of the English Channel, the worst tragedy on record in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Maryam Nuri Mohamed Amin, 24, made the journey in order to see her fiance, the BBC reported, citing family members and a close friend.

"When she left Kurdistan, she was very happy, she couldn't believe that she was going to meet [him]," the woman's friend Imann Hassan was quoted as saying by the British broadcaster, which said her fiance already lived in Britain.

"She tried to live a better life, she chose the UK, but she died," Hassan added.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the information. The tragedy has further strained ties between France and Britain, with French President Emmanuel Macron telling Britain Friday it needed to "get serious" or remain locked out of discussions over how to curb the flow of migrants across the Channel. (VOA)

WHO Names New COVID Variant Omicron, Cautions Against Travel Measures

WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday classified the B.1.1.529 variant detected in South Africa as a SARS-CoV-2 "variant of concern," saying it may spread more quickly than other forms.

Preliminary evidence suggested there is an increased risk of reinfection and there had been a "detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology," it said in a statement after a closed meeting of independent experts who reviewed the data.

Infections in South Africa had risen steeply in recent weeks, coinciding with detection of the variant now designated as omicron, WHO said.

"This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other (variants of concern),” it said.

Omicron is the fifth variant to carry such a designation. "This variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage," the WHO said.

Current PCR tests continue to successfully detect the variant, it said.

Earlier, the WHO cautioned countries against hastily imposing travel restrictions linked to the variant of COVID-19, saying they should take a "risk-based and scientific approach."

Global authorities reacted with alarm to the new variant detected in South Africa, with the EU and Britain among those tightening border controls as scientists sought to find out if the mutation was vaccine-resistant.

"At this point, implementing travel measures is being cautioned against," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a U.N. briefing in Geneva. "The WHO recommends that countries continue to apply a risk-based and scientific approach when implementing travel measures."

It would take several weeks to determine the variant's transmissibility and the effectiveness of vaccines and therapeutics against it, he said, noting that 100 sequences of the variant have been reported so far.

People should continue to wear masks whenever possible, avoid large gatherings, ventilate rooms and maintain hand hygiene, Lindmeier added.

Mike Ryan, WHO's emergency director, praised South African public health institutions for picking up the signal of the new variant.

But he warned that while some countries had systems in place to do this, the situation elsewhere was often unclear.

"So, it's really important that there are no knee-jerk responses here. Especially with relation to South Africa," he said. "Because we've seen in the past, the minute that there is any mention of any kind of variation, then everyone is closing borders and restricting travel." (VOA)

Anthony Fauci VIew on Travel Ban Over New COVID Variant

WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - Top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said Friday that a ban on flights from southern Africa was a possibility and the United States was rushing to gather data on the new COVID-19 variant.

No decision to halt flights had yet been made, he said. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said White House officials were discussing potential travel restrictions on southern African countries. Those officials were expected to meet with agency officials Friday afternoon to make a recommendation, the newspaper said, without specifying which agency.

The White House referred to Fauci's earlier comments when asked about the report and declined further comment. Global authorities have reacted with alarm to the new variant, detected in South Africa, with the European Union and Britain among those tightening border controls as scientists seek to find out if the mutation is vaccine-resistant.

The World Health Organization (WHO), however, has cautioned against hasty measures and South Africa said a British ban on flights seemed rushed.

"There is always the possibility of doing what the UK has done, namely block travel from South Africa and related countries," Fauci said in an interview on CNN.

"That's certainly something you think about and get prepared to do. You're prepared to do everything you need to protect the American public. But you want to make sure there's a basis for doing that," he said.

"Obviously as soon as we find out more information we'll make a decision as quickly as we possibly can."

Fauci said U.S. scientists would speak with South African counterparts Friday about the new variant, called B.1.1.529, which has raised concern about its transmissibility and whether it might evade immune responses.

He added there was no indication the new variant was already in the United States. (VOA)

Inside China’s Brash on Xi Jinping, New Approach to State Media

BEIJING, LELEMUKU.COM - Earlier this month, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency posted a glowing profile of Xi Jinping, the country’s top leader, who is laying the groundwork to indefinitely extend his rule.

“This is a man of determination and action,” proclaimed the piece. “A man of profound thoughts and feelings, a man who inherited a legacy but dares to innovate, a man who has forward-looking vision and is committed to working tirelessly.”

The profile, which went on like that for over 5,000 words, was posted on the front pages of the English and Chinese websites of the country’s vast state-run media apparatus.

Such hagiographies are not new. China’s government-controlled media have long posted flattering portrayals of Communist Party leaders or policies, especially during sensitive political moments. But to many observers, the latest profile was especially obsequious.

A Xinhua tweet linking to the piece quickly created a stir online. Many Twitter users mockingly replaced the picture of Xi with their own pictures, insisting they too should be lauded for their “determination and action.”

It’s part of a larger trend. In recent years, Chinese state media have increasingly abandoned even the pretense of journalism as they attack critics and foes of Beijing and elevate the status of Xi, who stands to become the country's most powerful leader since founder Mao Zedong.

“One of the most notable developments in China’s state media in recent years is ... the creation of a personality cult surrounding Xi,” said Hu Ping, an exiled New York-based former editor of Beijing Spring, a pro-democracy academic journal.

To Hu and a growing number of other observers, Chinese state media are now starting to resemble the propaganda outlets of another authoritarian government. “Xi is quickly catching up with the Kim dynasty in North Korea,” Hu told VOA.

Falling flat

While Chinese state media may not be ready to match the eccentric vocabulary and trademark insults employed by their North Korean counterparts, the Beijing version in some ways appears even more out of place in the modern information sphere.

Unlike North Korean state media, which are mostly tucked away on the fringes of the internet, Chinese state media attempt to cultivate large followings on Western social media sites.

Chinese state media’s efforts to defend Beijing in front of a global audience often appear to fall flat. The most recent example of that is the situation surrounding professional Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.

The 35-year-old Peng, one of the world’s top tennis players, earlier this month wrote a social media post accusing former vice premier Zhang Gaoli, 75, of sexual assault. Not only did Peng’s post quickly disappear, so did any mention of it on China’s internet. Then Peng herself went silent, raising global fears about her safety and freedom.

To help alleviate the concerns, Chinese state media sprang into action. CGTN, an official Chinese broadcaster, quickly produced an email from Peng, which many observers said resembled a hostage note. The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, then posted a video of Peng eating at a restaurant with several others, who engaged in a seemingly unnatural conversation about what day it was.

Left unanswered was the question of why China’s state-controlled media kept getting such scoops and why Peng herself hadn’t appeared to speak freely about her situation.

Intimidation

If the goal of the Chinese state media posts was to convince, the effort was clearly a failure, according to Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund Asia.

“Nobody will read this & think, ‘Oh good, Peng Shuai is ok! I’m so relieved,” Olhberg tweeted.

In her view, the intent was not to persuade but to intimidate.

“A lot has been made about the inability of Chinese propaganda organs to adapt to foreign audiences, how they hit the wrong tone, etc. That’s partially true, but there’s more at play here because this tweet would also not convince a single Chinese person that Peng Shuai is fine,” Olhberg said.

“Messages like these are meant as a demonstration of power: ‘We are telling you that she is fine, and who are you to say otherwise?’” she added.

Capitalizing on chaos

Another possibility: China may simply be trying to capture attention with its more aggressive media approach, especially amid a tumultuous and polarized global information environment.

“I think there is a strategic recognition on China’s part that this is a period of chaos when it comes to information,” said David Bandurski, director of the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong. “Mao Zedong famously said, ‘All under heaven is in chaos, and the situation is excellent.’”

In other words: During a period marked by the rise of social media, the explosion of disinformation and the disintegration of traditional information sources, China may realize the propaganda value in creating controversy for controversy’s sake.

“We can debate whether party-state messaging externally is well-conceived, or whether it will attract or repulse, but the capacity of provocative and false messaging to steal attention has been demonstrated. I think this is something nearly everyone can agree upon. So this naturally is an environment to capitalize on if you are conducting external propaganda,” Bandurski said.

The Trump factor

It’s difficult to determine exactly when Chinese outlets started to become more aggressive. But the trend coincided at least partly with the tenure of former U.S. president Donald Trump.

Not only did Trump use a more aggressive communication style than his predecessors, he also took a much more adversarial approach toward China.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Trump repeatedly claimed, without providing evidence, that COVID-19 had been leaked from a Chinese lab.

China’s response involved more than just a denial or condemnation of Trump’s claims. Beijing also hit back with the unfounded assertion that COVID-19 had originated at Fort Detrick, a U.S. military base in the eastern state of Maryland.

To back the claim, Chinese state media published several political cartoons, which portray Uncle Sam or U.S. President Joe Biden scrambling to cover up what they imply is a lab leak.

View from the inside

Daniel Matthews, a former employee at CGTN’s Washington bureau, was in a position to observe Chinese state media trends firsthand.

When he started at CGTN in 2013, Matthews said the Washington bureau on about a weekly basis would receive mandates from Beijing headquarters to do certain stories, often with a particular slant. By the time he left CGTN in 2019, the mandates were coming in daily, he estimates.

“As the [U.S.-China] relationship deteriorated, the mandates increased,” Matthews told VOA. “When I left they were reading every script.”

Many journalists in CGTN’s Washington newsroom had previously worked at other U.S. news outlets, and often pushed back against the mandates. During a particularly heated discussion about coverage of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, several editorial staff threatened to leave, Matthews said.

“Sometimes Beijing would back down. Other times we’d run the story with a caveat,” said Matthews, who worked as a newsroom engineer.

At times, he said, the CGTN staff would find workarounds, like airing all the mandated stories within the same time slot during periods of low viewership.

“The (Washington,) D.C. bureau specifically did not abide, I can tell you that,” he said. “I can’t speak to CGTN at large.”

Eventually many staff, including Matthews, did quit, especially after the U.S. Justice Department ordered CGTN to register as a foreign agent as part of a wider crackdown on U.S.-based Chinese state media.

Matthews says he decided to quit because he felt the organization was failing to report essential news stories.

“When you’re there you keep hearing from other people how normal it is. It’s like a frog in a pot you slowly bring to a boil,” he said. “It’s definitely not how I meant to spend my 20s.”

Resentment in Beijing?

Hu Ping, the veteran Chinese free speech advocate, predicts that China’s more aggressive media approach could also eventually backfire in Beijing.

“In North Korea, the Kim family's personality cult has never ceased to exist since Kim Il Sung took over. But in China, the idea of a personality cult was rejected upon Mao’s death, even among Communist Party ranks,” Hu says.

Xi's determination to restore a personality cult around himself "is bound to provoke fierce resentment, even opposition, from both civil society and among party members, including those at high levels,” Hu adds.

For now, there’s little evidence of any Beijing backlash. But earlier this month, Hu Xijin, the chief editor of the party-run Global Times, published an editorial lamenting government interference in media and “increasing restrictions” on Chinese journalists.

“I feel deeply that it is becoming more and more difficult to do media,” read the editorial by Hu, who is better known for his acerbic attacks on the U.S. "Frankly speaking, media practitioners have been subject to increasing restrictions for some time," he said.
Within days, the editorial was removed from the Global Times website without explanation. (William Gallo/ Natalie Liu| VOA)

European Union to Suspend Travel From Southern Africa Over New COVID Variant

BRUSSELS, LELEMUKU.COM  - European Union states have agreed to suspend travel from southern Africa after the detection of a new COVID-19 variant, the presidency of the EU said Friday.

A committee of health experts from all 27 EU states "agreed on the need to activate the emergency break & impose temporary restriction on all travel into EU from southern Africa," the Slovenian presidency of the EU said on Twitter.

Restrictions will apply to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, European Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer said on Twitter.

An EU official said that EU governments have also been asked to discourage travel to those countries.

Each of the 27 EU countries is free to apply the new measures when it prefers. Some are already applying restrictions.

EU officials said that no decision had yet been made on other countries in other parts of the world where cases were detected, which include Hong Kong, Israel and Belgium, an EU country.

The new coronavirus variant, first detected in South Africa, has caused global alarm as researchers seek to find out if it is vaccine-resistant.

Marc Van Ranst, the virologist who detected the new variant in Belgium, told Reuters it was more likely the infected woman had contracted the variant in Belgium rather than while traveling outside Europe.

She had been in Egypt earlier in November but developed symptoms only 11 days after her return to Belgium. She is not vaccinated.

Switzerland imposed on Friday a requirement of 10-day quarantine and a negative test for travelers from Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong, in addition to travel bans on southern African countries. (reuters)

Egypt Court Sentences 22 Militants to Death by Hanging

CAIRO, LELEMUKU.COM - An Egyptian court sentenced to death by hanging 22 militants Thursday for 54 attacks, including the attempted assassination of a former interior minister, a judicial source told AFP.

The men were found guilty of committing 54 "terrorist operations" across Egypt, including the murder of a senior police officer, as well as trying to kill former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim.

Executions in Egypt for civilians are carried out by hanging. Those sentenced to death include a former police officer, and the verdicts cannot be appealed.

The 22 convicted were found guilty of being members of the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis group, which pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2014.

The Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest appeals court, also upheld prison sentences of 118 others in the same case, ranging from terms of several years to life imprisonment.

Egypt has for years been fighting an insurgency in North Sinai that escalated after the army's 2013 ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president.

In February 2018, the army and police launched a nationwide operation against militants focused on North Sinai.

About 1,073 suspected militants and dozens of security personnel have been killed since the start of operations, according to official figures.

Earlier this month, Egypt agreed with Israel to boost its troop numbers around the border town of Rafah in order to quell IS militants.

Ansar Beit al-Maqdis fighters in Sinai were led by Hisham al-Ashmawy, an ex-special forces officer in the Egyptian army.

Ashmawy – once dubbed Egypt's "most wanted man"— split from the militants after they switched allegiance from al-Qaida to the Islamic State group.


In 2018, Ashmawy was captured in the eastern Libya city of Derna and extradited to Cairo. He had been on trial with the 22 men sentenced Thursday, but already had been found guilty, and was executed in March 2020.

Egypt recorded the third most executions in the world — behind China and Iran, according to Amnesty International. In 2020, Egyptian authorities executed at least 107 people, Amnesty said. (VOA)

EU Drug Regulator Approves First COVID-19 Shot for 5 to11-Year-Olds

BRUSSELS, LELEMUKU.COM - The European Union drug regulator Thursday approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of five and 11, opening the way for them to be given a first shot as the region battles surging infections.

The vaccine, which is called Comirnaty, will be given in two doses of 10 micrograms three weeks apart as an injection in the upper arm, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended. Adult doses contain 30 micrograms.

"The benefits of Comirnaty in children aged 5 to 11 outweigh the risks, particularly in those with conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19," the EMA said.

The companies have said their vaccine showed 90.7% efficacy against the coronavirus in a clinical trial of children aged 5 to 11.

Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine has been approved for European Union use in teenagers between 12 and 17 years old since May. While final approval is up to the European Commission, it typically follows EMA recommendations.

It is not clear when countries may start rolling out the shots among younger children. Earlier this week, outgoing German health minister Jens Spahn said that EU-wide deliveries of the low-dose pediatric version would only begin on December 20.

The bloc joins a growing number of countries, including the United States, Canada, Israel, China and Saudi Arabia, which have cleared vaccines for children in the 5-11 year age group and younger.

Tens of millions of children in this age group will be eligible for the shot in the EU.

For pediatric shots, the U.S. regulator authorized a new version of the vaccine, which uses a new buffer and allows them to be stored in refrigerators for up to 10 weeks. (VOA)

Football, Parade Floats and Family Traditions Return on US Thanksgiving Day

WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - Americans will pack football stadiums, flock to parades and gather more freely Thursday for family feasts, grateful to celebrate Thanksgiving Day traditions again after the pandemic kept many at home last year.

The holiday dates to the early 17th Century, when pilgrims from Europe and Native Americans gathered to share the autumn bounty— a celebration of goodwill before the genocide that was to come. Nowadays, the approach of the long holiday weekend typically ignites a frenzy of travel as scattered families come together for holiday meals.

With COVID-19 deaths and infections soaring last year, many people shared turkey dinners over Zoom. Now that vaccines have made the pandemic more manageable, an estimated 53.4 million people will travel for Thanksgiving, up 13% from 2020, according to the American Automobile Association. Air travel is expected to recover to about 91% of pre-pandemic levels.

Families are excited to bring multiple generations together again.

"I love the craziness of cooking for a bunch of people and having all the hustle and bustle around the table, and everything that goes along with that," said Tanya Primiani, who will host 12 people in at her home in Silver Spring, Maryland. "There will be so much gratitude this year."

Midnight after Thanksgiving also marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, offering a snapshot of the state of the economy.

Retailers started promoting online holiday "deals" as early as September this year, because the ongoing supply chain threatened to delay imported merchandise. But bargains are modest, with retailers cutting prices 5%-to-25% Friday, according to Adobe Digital Economy Index.

An occasion to count one's blessings, typically over a turkey dinner with mounds of side dishes and desserts, Thanksgiving also prompts an outpouring of donations to the poor and hungry.

Like many organizations, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank offered an annual free food drive this year, allowing anyone in need to pick up a free meal kit ahead of the holiday.

Victoria Lasavath, the food bank marketing manager, said the pandemic exacerbated food insecurity in Los Angeles County. The organization and its partners now serve 900,000 people a day, triple the number from before COVID-19, she said.

Thanksgiving "can typically be a very joyous time of the year for us all. However, for our food insecure neighbors it may bring about a different type of uncertainty," Lasavath said. Still, Americans are cautious with COVID-19 infecting 95,000 people a day. More than 777,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the United States, according to a Reuters count of official data. But deaths are now measured in the hundreds per day instead of the thousands.

With hospital intensive-care units no longer overflowing, restrictions on social gatherings have eased. That means fans will pack three National Football League stadiums on Thursday, restoring a spectacle that is part of the Thanksgiving tradition. Last year there were no fans in the stands.

Likewise, spectators will return to New York City's 95th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade after last year's pageant was scaled down and closed to the public.

Other cities have parades, but the New York event is televised across the country, enabling some 50 million viewers to gawk at the oversized helium balloons depicting cartoon characters and toys, the longest measuring 22 meters (72 feet).

New York police do not provide crowd estimates, but the Macy's parade is one of the city's largest annual events along with New Year's Eve and the LGBTQ Pride parade, whose boosters claim millions of in-person spectators. (VOA)

Pope Francis Promises Najib Mikati to Help Moribund Lebanon Rise Again

BEIRUT, LELEMUKU.COM - Pope Francis, meeting the prime minister of Lebanon Thursday, compared the country to a dying person or moribund and promised to do everything in his power to help it "rise again."

Francis and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who took office in September after a year-long government vacuum, met privately for about 20 minutes and discussed the country's devastating economic and social crisis, the Vatican said in a statement.

The fallout from Lebanon's financial collapse in 2019 has left swathes of the nation in poverty and foreign donors are demanding an audit of the central bank and financial reforms before they release funds.

U.N. agencies have warned of social catastrophes, with one report saying that more than half of families in Lebanon had at least one child who skipped a meal amid a dramatic deterioration of living conditions.

"Lebanon is a country, a message and even a promise worth fighting for," Francis told the extended Lebanese delegation after the private meeting.

He then referred to the Gospel story of Jairus in which Jesus raises up the man's 12-year-old daughter, who was believed to be dead. Jesus told the parents she was only sleeping and the girl rose up when Jesus commanded.

"I pray that the Lord will take Lebanon by the hand and say 'arise'," the pope said, adding that the country was going through a "very difficult, ugly period" of its history. "I assure you of my prayers, my closeness and promise to work diplomatically with countries so that they unite with Lebanon to help it rise again."

The seemingly never-ending crisis has sunk Lebanon's currency by more than 90%, caused poverty to skyrocket and led many Lebanese to emigrate. Mikati's government was finally formed after a year of political conflict over cabinet seats that only worsened the crisis.

In August, on the first anniversary of the huge chemical blast at Beirut port that killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars of damage, Francis promised to visit Lebanon as soon as the situation permitted. (VOA)

Golden Stock Exchange Bull, Set Amid Brazil Poverty, Gone in a Week

WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - Many Brazilians felt bearish about the new Wall Street-inspired bull sculpture outside the stock exchange and didn't have to wait long for it to crash: The statue has been removed a week after it was installed.

Sao Paulo's stock exchange had hoped to bestow the rundown city center with a flashy landmark. But its golden sheen was offset by nearby tents for the homeless and the daily line outside a major trade union of people searching for jobs — any job.

By Tuesday night, it was gone.

Critics said the metal and fiberglass sculpture at the gates of the stock exchange in no way reflects Brazil's current economic crossroads nor near-term prospects, with poverty and unemployment high and inflation running in the double digits. Local media have shown poor Brazilians in several cities so desperate for food that they rummage through rejected meat scraps.

"It represents the strength and the resilience of the Brazilian people," Gilson Finkelsztain, the exchange's CEO, said at its Nov. 16 unveiling. It was sponsored by the stock exchange and investor Pablo Spyer.

Spyer, who owns a consultancy firm named Vai Tourinho ("Go Little Bull" in Portuguese), said he was honored to give "a gift to all Brazilians." Some locals were keen to snap pictures with the sculpture, which resembles the Charging Bull in Manhattan's financial district.

But celebration was swiftly met with protests. The next day, a dozen students posted stickers that read "HUNGER" on the bull's body. After their removal, the nonprofit group SP Invisible, which aids the poor, organized a barbecue beside the bull to feed homeless people. Both demonstrations reverberated widely on social media.

"This bull is suggesting we are experiencing some progress, but it is the exact opposite," Vinícius Lima, one of the nonprofit's organizers, told journalists. "Beef prices have skyrocketed. It costs double what it used to. Fewer and fewer Brazilians can afford it. That's why we came here."

Over the weekend, the bull's sponsors attempted to co-opt demonstrations by asking visitors to bring food for donation. Still, the bull continued getting roasted.

City Hall's urban planning body summoned the sculpture's sponsors and the artist who crafted it for a meeting. Its main objection with the golden beast was that sponsors didn't seek approval beforehand and it apparently violated a law limiting what can be displayed outdoors. Sao Paulo limits outdoor advertising.

"There is a law and it must be followed. Everyone has to be aware of the law before doing something," Viviane Rubio, an adviser to the urban planning body, said during Tuesday's afternoon meeting. "You needed to let us know before you placed it there," she said.

The bull's creator, artist and architect Rafael Brancatelli, expressed contrition.

"I wasn't trying to be disrespectful or go over anyone's head. The lesson has been learned," he said. "In another initiative, we will certainly look for you first."

Under orders from Sao Paulo's stock exchange, a crane took away the bull Tuesday night, its head and horns wrapped in plastic.

Maria Gomes, who has worked in the region for 30 years, said Wednesday she was pleased by the removal of the sculpture, which she initially thought was an ad for a barbecue restaurant and had deemed it "hideous." Still, she felt the bull may have been unfairly blamed.

"It was a ‘scapebull,'" said Gomes, 67. "Now that it is gone, it feels better. But it is actually the same degraded city center of years ago." (AP/VOA)

China Says It Will Shun Hegemony in Disputed Asian Sea

WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - Beijing's pledge this week to avoid dominance in the South China Seacomes too late to convince smaller Southeast Asian claimants to the strategic waterway after years of Chinese expansion, experts say.

President Xi Jinpingmade the pledge Monday at a virtual summit marking the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue. Hetold leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nationsthat Beijing would avoid"bullying"smaller countries over their competing claims to the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea.

China's representation at ASEAN events typically falls to Premier Li Keqiang, but this time,Xiaddressed the Southeast Asian countries and said"China will never seek hegemony, still less bully smaller countries,"according to a Tuesday report by Beijing's state-run China Daily website.

China vies with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam for sovereignty over parts of the resource-rich sea, which stretches from Hong Kong to Borneo. The Chinese government hasconductedlandfilling of tiny islets in the sea, in some cases for military use, alarming the other countries.

The Chinese navy, coast guard as well as its fishing fleets often antagonize other claimants, all militarily weaker than China, by passing through the disputed maritime tracts prized for fisheries and subterranean fossil fuel reserves.

Southeast Asia reaction

Xi's comments have been metwithskepticism among ASEAN member states because Southeast Asian leaders have heard similar language before, saidJayBatongbacal, international maritime affairs professor at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are members of ASEAN, which negotiates as a bloc over external trade and security matters, including South China Sea conduct.

"The rest of the region, of course, won't take it at face value," Batongbacalsaid, referring especially to Southeast Asia."It's the actions of China that raise these concerns, even though China has been giving that kind of assurance even before."

China has no intention of quitting its positions in the sea, said AlexanderVuving, professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, in Hawaii. Xi had told former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2015thatChina would not militarize the sea but did anyway,Vuvingsaid.

Vietnam would not trust China's latest comments, he said, while the Philippines and Indonesia will find it suspicious. Indonesia does not vie with China over islets, but the two sides have disagreed over sea lanes.

Vietnam has sparred with China over disputed islands since the 1970s, leading to deadly clashes in 1974 and 1988. Malaysia and the Philippines have spoken out over the past year.

Earlier this month, Chinese coast guard vessels blocked Philippine resupply boats bound for Second Thomas Shoal, a Philippine-occupied atoll, and fired water cannons.

"We abhor the recent event in theAyunginShoal and view with grave concern other similar developments,"Duterte said Monday during his virtual participation in the ASEAN summit."This does not speak well of the relations between our nations and our partnership."

"The problem is that message [from China] becomes more laughable to a lot of its neighbors with every passing year,"said Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative under the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"You look at the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, the border with India,"Poling said, referring to potential military flash points involving Beijing."It's getting harder for the ASEAN members who aren't involved in the disputes to still believe this Chinese line."

Why Xi spoke out

Regional experts like EduardoAraral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore's public policy school, say that having Xi take the unusual step of personally addressing the fraught issue of hegemony in the South China Sea before ASEAN member states was"the logical thing to do"for a burgeoning global power.

"When you're a small country and you border with a big country, you get nervous when that big country grows very big, so I guess for the past 30 years, this is the utmost question on the minds of leaders of ASEAN,"Araralsaid. China has the world's third strongest armed forces after the United States and Russia.

"So, when [fellow ASEAN leaders] have this opportunity to meet with President Xi Jinping, they probably expect him to make those assurances,"he said.

Vuvingof the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, however, said Xi may have made his hegemony comment in case Southeast Asian governments are wondering whether Xi's recent meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden — or the AUKUS military technology sharing deal — could have altered China's geopolitical posture in the region.

AUKUS, a security deal between the United States, Britain and Australia designed to contain China's expansion, is opposed by Beijing.

Between the AUKUS rollout and last week's China -U.S. virtual bilateral,Vuvingspeculated that the Chinese may have"felt that they need to reassure their Southeast Asian neighbors a little bit."

While China is expected to"spread its sphere of influence"throughout the region without risking trade through any blockage of sea lanes,Araralsaid, Beijing might also try to displace the influence of Washington, which maintains a regular naval presence and sells arms in the region.

Multiple U.S.administrationshave declared their support for a"free and open Indo-Pacific,"which views"Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea [as] completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them."

ASEAN members without South China Sea claims are Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. (Ralph Jennings |VOA)

Winter Misery for Migrants Trapped on Poland-Belarus Border

WARSAW, LELEMUKU.COM - Poland has threatened Belarus with further economic sanctions and the closure of its border to all freight and rail traffic, as thousands of migrants continue to try to cross the frontier. The European Union accuses Belarus of creating a humanitarian crisis by ferrying migrants to the border, in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed over last year’s rigged election.

Facing off across the frontier,Polish border guards filmed this footage Tuesday night, purportedly showing Belarusian security forces next to a section of broken border fence.

Poland’s prime minister said Wednesday he was ready to escalate the response to what he called a political crisis triggered by Belarus— using innocent people as "human shields."

“We want to relieve this tension, but if there is an escalation by the other side, the Belarusian side, we are ready to go, unfortunately, up on this 'escalation ladder.'For example, [imposing]economic sanctions, border closure, closing border crossings for freight and rail traffic,” he said.

The EU said Tuesday it is preparing emergency legal measures on migrant asylum and return procedures.

“The aim is to support member states to set up the right processes, to manage irregular arrivals in a swift and orderly way, in line with fundamental rights,” she said.

Tensions have eased in recent days after Belarus moved some migrants away from the border. Still, hundreds remain stuck in camps in freezing conditions. Several migrants have already died attempting the crossing.

“To Poland, no have way. To Belarus, no have a way. We can’t go anywhere. We stay here until Europe accepts us,” saysDiyar, a migrant from Iraq.

A report from Human Rights Watch, based on interviews with dozens of migrants,details how Belarusian forces cut the razor wire fence to help the migrants cross into Poland,where they are usually picked up by Polish border guards.

“They pleaded with the Polish border guards for asylum, for international protection. And if a person does that then it is the responsibility of state authorities to process these claims. Now what the people told me is that none of this happens. Rather, they are being put in vans or cars and then Polish border guards are driving them to specific locations at the border with Belarus where they force them to cross through the fence and go back to the Belarusian side,” saysLydia Gall from Human Rights Watch.

The migrants say they are then held in open air camps on the Belarusian side of the border.

“They are not provided with food or water, they are quite often violently abused by the border guards, they are extorted for money. They will then march larger groups of people back towards the Polish fence where they will coerce them to go back into Poland. And so that’s when you have these so-called ‘ping-pong’ pushbacks,” saysLydia Gall.

Poland denies breaking any asylum laws. Belarus also denies its border guards have committed abuses.

Among the latest casualties of the crisis— an unborn child — miscarried by his mother as the family crossed the border. His tiny coffin was buried Tuesday in a Muslim Tatar cemetery close to the border in Poland. (Henry Ridgwell |VOA)

European Countries Examines Mitigation Steps to Facing New COVID Surge

BRUSSELS, LELEMUKU.COM - Three European countries have broken records for new COVID-19 cases, prompting calls for urgent measures to slow the spread.

Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, all of which have vaccine rates below 60%, hit new highs for infection rates Wednesday.

In the face of surging cases, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, or ECDC, shifted its booster policy and is now recommending shots for adults over 40.

"Available evidence emerging from Israel and Britain shows a significant increase in protection against infection and severe disease following a booster dose in all age groups in the short term," the ECDC said in a report published Wednesday.

"The potential burden of disease in the EU/ EEA from the Delta variant will be very high in December and January unless public health measures are applied now in combination with continued efforts to increase vaccine uptake in the total population," it said in a statement.

Slovakian officials are weighing new lockdowns, and in the Czech Republic, officials may impose vaccine mandates on people over the age of60 as well as on health care workers. Hungarian officials have argued against lock downs but are encouraging people to get vaccinated.

Austria has imposed a strict lockdown and plans to make vaccines mandatory by February1.

Some parts of Germany also are restricting movement in the face of spiking cases.

France, Holland and Italy are all expected to announce new steps to curb the spread later this week.

COVID-19 emerged from China two years ago and has killed 5.4 million globally. (VOA)

Jobs Lost, Middle Class Afghans Slide into Poverty, Hunger

WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - Not long ago,Ferishta Salihi and her family had enough for a decent life. Her husband was working and earned a good salary. She could send several of her daughters to private schools.

But now, after her husband lost his job following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, she was lined up with hundreds of other Afghans, registering with the U.N.’s World Food Program to receive food and cash that her family desperately needs just for survival.

“We have lost everything. We’ve lost our minds,”Salihi said after her registration was complete. With her was her eldest daughter, 17-year-old Fatima, whom she had to take out of school. She can’t afford to pay the fees at a private school, and the Taliban so far are not allowing teenage girls to go to public schools.

“I don’t want anything for myself, I just want my children to get an education,”Salihi said.

In a matter of months as Afghanistan’s economy craters, many stable, middle-class families like Salihi’s have plummeted into desperation, uncertain of how they will pay for their next meal. That is one reason the United Nations is raising alarm over a hunger crisis, with 22% of the population of 38 million already near famine and another 36% facing acute food insecurity - mainly because people can’t afford food.

The economy was already in trouble under the previous, U.S.-backed government, which often could not pay its employees. The situation was worsened by the corona virus pandemic and by a punishing drought that drove up food prices. Already in 2020, nearly half of Afghanistan’s population was living in poverty.

Then the world’s shutdown of funding to Afghanistan after the Taliban’s Aug. 15 seizure of power pulled the rug out from under the country’s small middle class. International funding once paid for much of the government budget — and without it, the Taliban have largely been unable to pay salaries or provide public services. The international community has not recognized Taliban rule, demanding the militants form a more inclusive government and respect human rights.

International aid also fueled projects around the country that provided jobs, most of which are now on hold. The country’s banks are cut off from the international banking system, further snarling the private sector.The country’s economy is estimated to have contracted 40% in just three months.

Hospitals are seeing increasing numbers of emaciated, malnourished children, mostly from the country’s poorest families who were already barely getting by.

Now families that have seen their once-stable livelihoods wrecked also find themselves with nothing and must scrape for ways to cover costs of food, rent and medical expenses.

Salihi’s husband once made around 24,000 Afghanis ($264) a month working in the logistics department at the World Bank’s office in Kabul. But after the Taliban took power, the World Bank halted its projects. The 39-year-oldSalihisaid her husband was told not to come to the office and he hasn’t received his salary since.

Now she is the family’s only source of income. One of her neighbors has a business selling nuts, so they give her bags of nuts to shell at home and she then sells the shells to people who use them to burn for fuel.

Her husband, she said, spends his day walking around the district looking for work. “All he can do is measure the streets with his steps,” she said, using an expression for someone with nothing to do.

The U.S. and other international donors are funneling money to Afghanistan for humanitarian aid through U.N. agencies, which ensure the money doesn’t go into the coffers of the Taliban government. The main focus has been on two tracks. The U.N. Development Program, World Health Organization and UNICEF are working to directly pay salaries to doctors and nurses around the country to keep the health sector from collapsing. The WFP, meanwhile, is providing direct cash aid and food to families, trying to keep them above water.

The WFP has had to ramp up its program dramatically. In 2020, it provided aid to 9 million people, up from the year before. So far this year, that number has risen to nearly 14 million, and the rate has risen sharply each month since August. Next year, the agency aims to provide for more than 23 million people, and it says it needs $220 million a month to do so.

It’s not just the poorest of the poor, usually based in rural areas, who need help.

“There’s a new urban class of people who up until the summer would have been drawing a salary ... and now are facing hunger for the first time,” said Shelley Thakral, the WFP spokesperson for Afghanistan.

“People are now having to scavenge for food, they’re skipping meals and mothers are forced to reduce portions of food,” she said.

Last week, hundreds of men and women lined up in a gymnasium in a west Kabul neighborhood to receive a cash distribution - 3,500 afghanis a month, about $38.

Nouria Sarvari, a 45-year widow who was waiting in line, used to work at the Higher Education Ministry. After the Taliban came to power, they told most women government employees to stay home. Sarvari said she hasn’t received a salary since and she’s struggling to keep food on the table for her three children still living with her.

Her 14-year-old son, Sajjad, sells plastic bags in the market for a little cash. Sarvari says she depends on help from neighbors. “I buy from shopkeepers on credit. I owe so many shopkeepers, and most of what I receive today will just go to paying what I owe.”

SamimHassanzwaisaid his life has been overturned completely over the past year. His father and mother both died of COVID-19, he said. His father was an officer in the intelligence agency and his mother was a translator for an American agency.

Hassanzwai, 29, had been working in the Culture Ministry but hasn’t gotten a salary since the Taliban came to power. Now he’s jobless with his wife and three children as well as his four younger sisters all dependent on him.

“I had a job, my mother had a job, my father had his duties. We were doing fine with money,” he said. “Now everything is finished.” (VOA)

Kondisi Politik Myanmar dan Laut China Selatan akan Dibahas di KTT ASEAN-China

WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - Sejumlah pengamat mengatakan bahwa kondisi Myanmar pasca kudeta, sengketa Laut China Selatan, dan respon terhadap pakta pertahanan AUKUS yang dimotori oleh Amerika Serikat berpotensi menjadi isu-isu utama yang akan dibahas di pertemuan tingkat tinggi ASEAN-China yang khusus diselenggarakan untuk memperingati 30 tahun hubungan bilateral antara kedua belah pihak.

Namun, sepertinya apa yang China harapkan, agar ada terobosan dalam Deklarasi Perilaku Para Pihak di Laut China Selatan, tidak akan terjadi pada pertemuan tingkat tinggi pada 22 November, karena negara-negara Asia Tenggara pengklaim harus berhadapan dengan tindakan dan militerisasi Beijing yang meningkat di wilayah laut yang disengketakan.

Perdana Menteri China Xi Jinping dan para pemimpin negara-negara anggota ASEAN diharapkan akan menghadiri pertemuan yang akan diselenggarakan secara bersama oleh ASEAN dan China. Ini akan menjadi pertemuan bilateral kedua yang terjadi tahun ini, dan yang pertama sejak ASEAN meningkatkan hubungannya dengan Beijing dan Australia.

“AUKUS, Myanmar, dan Laut China Selatan, adalah beberapa topik yang akan menjadi fokus dalam pertemuan tingkat tinggi ASEAN-China,” ujar James Chin, seorang pakar Laut China Selatan di Universitas Tasmania, kepada BenarNews.

“Pertemuan itu akan menjadi kesempatan bagi China untuk mencoba menggunakan AUKUS sebagai pengaruhnya terhadap pihak Barat.”

Dalam pakta pertahanan tiga negara tersebut, Amerika Serikat dan Inggris akan membantu Australia mendapatkan kapal selam bertenaga nuklir, dalam upaya untuk melawan pengaruh dan ekspansi militer China di Indo-Pasifik.

Konferensi tingkat tinggi ASEAN-China biasanya berfokus pada “hal-hal yang tidak terlalu sensitif seperti perdagangan dan investasi,” kata Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, dosen hubungan internasional di Universitas Islam Indonesia, kepada BenarNews.

Juru bicara Kementerian Luar Negeri Thailand Tanee Sangrat mengindikasikan bahwa isu-isu sensitif tidak akan dibahas dalam pertemuan nanti.

“Pertemuan akan difokuskan pada hubungan baik yang telah terjalin selama tiga dekade dan untuk mendukung peran konstruktif China, yang mempromosikan perdamaian dan stabilitas di kawasan,” ujar Tanee kepada BenarNews melaui pesan teks.

Namun, menurut Rakhmat, “perkembangan geopolitik akhir-akhir ini menunjukkan bahwa pertemuan tingkat tinggi ASEAN-China sepertinya akan membahas isu-isu politik dan keamanan.”

AUKUS adalah salah satu perkembangan geopolitik yang dikecam Beijing karena menurutnya hal itu mengancam stabilitas di Asia Tenggara.

China ingin negara-negara ASEAN berpihak padanya, tetapi posisi mereka tentang AUKUS terpecah dan tidak sesuai dengan kepentingan Beijing, ujar Henrick Tsjeng, seorang pakar hubungan internasional di Nanyang Technological University di Singapura.

“Ini berarti, dari perspektif Beijing, sebagian negara-negara Asia Tenggara masih berpotensi digunakan oleh AS untuk melawan pengaruh regional China,” kata Tsjeng kepada BenarNews.

Di sisi lain, ASEAN yang terpecah “dapat membantu China dengan memastikan bahwa ASEAN tidak akan pernah dapat menjadi suatu blok yang kohesif yang bertindak melawan kepentingan Beijing di kawasan ini,” tambahnya.

Beijing menggunakan ‘bujukan keuangan’

Selama 30 tahun terjalinnya hubungan bilateral, ASEAN dan China telah memiliki “hubungan yang sangat asimetris” dan ini terutama tercermin dalam isu-isu yang berkaitan dengan sengketa  Laut China Selatan, kata Hunter Marston, seorang pakar hubungan internasional di Australian National University.

China mengklaim hampir seluruh wilayah laut, termasuk perairan di dalam zona ekonomi eksklusif empat anggota ASEAN: Brunei, Malaysia, Filipina, dan Vietnam.

“Beijing telah menemukan manfaat dengan melibatkan ASEAN demi kemajuan ambisi regionalnya, terutama dengan memecah negara-negara yang tidak setuju atas sengketa geostrategis seperti Laut China Selatan,” kata Marston kepada BenarNews.

“Beijing menggunakan bujukan keuangan dan sanksi hukuman untuk mendikte norma perilaku yang disukai oleh negara-negara kecil. Misalnya, China telah melarang impor pisang dari Filipina di saat terjadi sengketa maritim … dan membekukan pinjaman uang ke Vietnam karena eksplorasi minyak dan gasnya di perairan yang disengketakan.”

Kapal-kapal China telah berulang kali melanggar hukum dengan menyusup ke perairan negara-negara Asia Tenggara pengklaim wilayah Laut China Selatan, ujar para pakar.

Pada Kamis ini, kapal penjaga pantai China dilaporkan menggunakan meriam air untuk memblokir misi pasokan Filipina ke pos militer terluarnya yang berlokasi di sebuah karang di Laut China Selatan. Tuduhan ini dilayangkan oleh pejabat Filipina, dan Manila menyebut tindakan itu "ilegal."

Sikap dan ucapan China ‘sering tidak sejalan’

Dalam menghadapi provokasi Beijing seperti itu, “negara-negara ASEAN tidak memiliki pengaruh yang besar untuk berbicara atau melawan tekanan China,” kata Marston, merujuk pada ekonomi negara-negara Asia Tenggara yang bergantung pada China.

Negara adidaya Asia itu telah dengan sangat gencar mempromosikan investasi infrastruktur di negara-negara Asia Tenggara melalui One Belt, One Road (OBOR) atau program infrastruktur  senilai lebih dari $1 triliun untuk membangun jaringan kereta api, pelabuhan, dan jembatan di 70 negara.

“Investasi China di Asia Tenggara tetap stabil berkisar di 10 hingga 30 persen dari total investasi BRI [Belt, Road Initiative] dari 2014 hingga 2019,” ujar Tsjeng dari Nanyang Technological University.

“Dengan mulainya pandemi COVID-19, persentase ini melonjak menjadi 36 persen pada 2020 – meskipun total investasi BRI global turun tajam.”

Selain itu, ASEAN tahun lalu menjadi mitra dagang terbesar China, menggantikan Uni Eropa, dengan nilai perdagangan bilateral mencapai US$732 miliar.

Marston dari Australian National University mengatakan negara-negara ASEAN akan mendapat manfaat dari perdagangan dan investasi China walau bahkan tanpa diplomasi bilateral. Tetapi keterlibatan itu “telah gagal untuk memperbaiki perilaku koersif China,” katanya.

Itulah alasannya mengapa keinginan China, menurut sejumlah laporan, yang ingin mempercepat negosiasi Kode Etik agar bertepatan dengan peringatan 30 tahun dialog ASEAN-Beijing mungkin tidak tercapai, ujar Derek Grossman, analis pertahanan senior di lembaga kajian Amerika Serikat, RAND Corporation.

“Sikap saling balas mengklaim wilayah maritim antara China dan ASEAN tetap terlalu beda jauh dalam negosiasi untuk hal itu ada peluang realistis bisa terjadi tahun ini. Atau setiap tahun di masa mendatang,” kata Grossman di Twitter.

China akan mengatakan bahwa mereka menginginkan perdamaian, stabilitas dan keamanan di kawasan, kata Rakhmat dari Universitas Indonesia.

“Meskipun saat terkait Laut China Selatan, kata-kata dan tindakan China sering tidak selaras,” katanya.

Pemimpin junta akan hadir?

Sementara itu, masih belum jelas apakah pemimpin junta Myanmar, yang menjadi koordinator dialog China-ASEAN tahun ini, akan diwakili pada pertemuan tingkat tinggi di hari Senin nanti.

Pertemuan pemimpin ASEAN bulan lalu mengambil langkah yang belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya, dengan melarang Jenderal Senior Min Aung Hlaing, yang memimpin kudeta 1 Februari di Myanmar, untuk hadir dalam pertemuan, dengan alasan bahwa Min telah mengingkari janjinya kepada ASEAN untuk mengambil langkah-langkah demi pemulihan perdamaian dan demokrasi.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapura dan Filipina menjadi pelopor upaya agar pimpinan junta Burma itu tidak hadir.

Namun, kantor berita Reuters melaporkan pada hari Kamis bahwa seorang utusan China sedang melobi negara-negara anggota ASEAN untuk mengizinkan Min Aung Hlaing hadir.

Empat sumber diplomatik dan politik regional yang tidak disebutkan namanya mengatakan Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia dan Singapura tidak menginginkan pemimpin junta Burma hadir pada pertemuan Senin nanti.

BenarNews tidak dapat mengkonfirmasi upaya lobi tersebut, meskipun juru bicara Kementerian Luar Negeri Indonesia Teuku Faizasyah mengatakan Indonesia mendukung pelarangan Min Aung Hlaing dari pertemuan Senin.

“Saya tidak tahu ada proposal seperti itu [untuk mengizinkan Min Aung Hlaing hadir] Indonesia tetap konsisten. Posisi Indonesia tidak berubah,” kata dia. (Shailaja Neelakantan| BenarNews)

Japan, US Conduct First Anti-Submarine Drill in South China Sea

TOKYO, LELEMUKU.COM - Naval ships from Japan and the United States conducted their first ever anti-submarine warfare exercise in the South China Sea, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force said, as Tokyo steps up joint maritime activities in those disputed waters with Western and Southeast Asian partners.

The deployment of ships and planes to the region, while seen as in line with Japan’s maritime strategy toward Southeast Asia, will no doubt meet with protests from China, which claims most of the South China Sea.

A JMSDF statement said the helicopter destroyer JS Kaga, destroyer JS Murasame, a P-1 maritime patrol aircraft and an unnamed submarine took part in the drill Tuesday with the U.S. Navy’s USS Milius and a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft. It did not reveal the exact location of the exercise.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), or the Japanese Navy as it’s commonly known, said in the statement: “In this exercise, the JMSDF submarine conducted (an) anti-submarine warfare exercise with the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea for the first time, further improving our tactical skills and interoperability between the JMSDF and the U.S. Navy.”

The Japanese ships, together with four helicopters, an Oyashio-class submarine and a maritime patrol aircraft, are part of the JMSDF’s Indo-Pacific Deployment 2021 (IPD21) task group formed to highlight Tokyo’s interest and commitment in a “free and open” Indo-Pacific, as well as Japan’s cooperation with other navies in the region, according to Japanese defense officials.

The IPD21 started in late August and the ships are scheduled to return to Japan by Nov. 25.

Before the anti-submarine exercise, on Nov. 14 the JS Kaga and JS Murasame conducted a bilateral exercise with the Philippine Navy frigate BRP Jose Rizal after a port call to Subic in the Philippines.

The two destroyers also made a port call in Cam Ranh Bay in central Vietnam on Nov. 5 to 7 and took part in a goodwill exercise with the Vietnamese Navy’s Gepard-class frigate Dinh Tien Hoang.

During the second half of November, there will be more bilateral and multilateral exercises, according to the JMSDF.  Most notably, from Nov. 21 to 30 in the waters around Japan, two multilateral exercises will be conducted with the JMSDF, the U.S. Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, the German Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy.

Major policy shift

Japan – whose military activity is constrained by its post-World War II pacifist constitution – introduced a major security policy shift under the government of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Since then, the Japanese Navy has expanded its presence and joint maritime activities in the South China Sea in order to promote a regional “rules-based order.”

 “Japan has greatly increased its ability to project its maritime power and shrugged off longstanding taboos on security policy in doing so. Geopolitically it is a response to a heightened perception of risk due to China’s military modernization program and regional hegemonic ambitions,” Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies and a professor at Temple University in Tokyo said in an earlier interview with Radio Free Asia, a sister entity of BenarNews.

“Japan participates in the Quad [grouping among the U.S., India, Japan and Australia] and has been an advocate of a free and open Indo-Pacific, a concept aimed at containing the expansion of China’s regional influence that involves, among other things, joint naval exercises,” Kingston said.

Analysts said the South China Sea is playing an important part in Japan’s maritime strategy where Tokyo is taking a multilateral approach to pushing back on Chinese territorial claims.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said more than 40 percent of Japan’s maritime trade passes through the South China Sea.

China’s growing assertiveness against other claimant states in the South China Sea, and Japan in the East China Sea “presents another grave concern for Japan,” said a new report by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

“Japan has traditionally been a provider of maritime capacity-building assistance for Southeast Asian states, offering activities ranging from joint exercises, training opportunities in Japan for defense personnel to equipment transfer,” the report said.

Vietnam and the Philippines, “the nations that straddle the north section of the South China Sea and flank the important PRC submarine base on Hainan Island” have become important maritime security partners for Japan, wrote John Bradford, executive director of the Yokosuka Council on Asia Pacific Studies, on the Center for International Maritime Security website.

Bradford added that “the JMSDF’s relationship with the Philippine Navy is the most developed of its Southeast Asia partnerships.”

According to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the JMSDF has provided 12 patrol vessels, 13 high-speed boats, a coast monitoring radar system and training to the Philippine Navy. To Vietnam, it transferred six patrol vessels and seven used vessels together with related equipment.

Japan is carrying out capacity-building projects in countries in the South China Sea as “Southeast Asia has clearly become a new nexus in Japan’s maritime strategy,” Bradford said. (BenarNews)

Najib Razak Retracts Request for Land, House despite Malaysia Cabinet OK

KUALA LUMPUR, LELEMUKU.COM - Najib Razak backed off Friday on his request to be given land and money for a house, but only after critics claimed that Malaysian lawmakers had approved a $24 million allocation for the ex-prime minister, who has been convicted of massive corruption tied to a financial scandal.

Najib made the announcement on the eve of a state legislative election in Melaka, where he was campaigning for candidates from the Barisan Nasional coalition and his United Malays National Organization, the party back in charge of Malaysia’s federal government.

“I have decided to reject the offer, although principally, the application was made based on my eligibility as former prime minister,” Najib told reporters in Melaka. “I’m aware that the people are facing tough times, where the country’s priority should be on the people.”

He also denied that lawmakers had approved the request, while stressing that he did not ask the government to fork out the 100 million ringgit (U.S. $23.9 million) as a gift.

“The government asked me to choose (from three plots of land), so I decided what’s best for me,” he said.

“I’m not aware of the value. I came to know after it was publicized because I was not involved with the evaluation,” said Najib, adding that he put in the application in 2018 after being voted out as prime minister.

The UMNO-led Barisan bloc crashed out of power then under a wave of popular criticism over revelations about the scandal, where billions of dollars were allegedly looted from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a sovereign wealth fund which Najib had founded as PM.

Under the Government Act enacted in May 2003 during Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure as prime minister, former leaders are entitled to housing after they leave office. Five months later, Mahathir stepped down and was succeeded as prime minister by Abdullah Badawi.

Najib succeeded Abdullah in 2009 and led the government for nine years before his party and coalition were upset in the 2018 general election by a coalition led by Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim. Both men spoke out against the deal for Najib.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Najib called on Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to review similar deals offered to his predecessors, if necessary.

Later, in a Facebook posting, Najib said he was baffled about the outrage.

“Now I have decided to withdraw my application for the residence because I do not want this issue to be used as a tool in Melaka state election campaign,” he said.

Special committee

A statement from Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, however, contradicted Najib’s claim that the government had not approved his application for land and funds to build a home.

“In principle, the cabinet has agreed to grant the former premier his request on the ground of his right under law. However, I must stress that this decision is not final and is subject to further deliberation and final approval by the government,” he said.

On Friday, Wan Junaidi said the cabinet had decided to establish a special committee to look into Najib’s request.

“The committee’s role will be to review the proposed guidelines for the fulfilment of the request, including rates, conditions and maximum limits … for the provision of land and residential houses, under the Former Prime Minister’s Remuneration Schedule, for future implementation,” he said in a statement.

Fahmi Fadzil, communications director for the Pakatan Harapan opposition bloc, said transparency was needed.

“If this issue was not revealed, if this issue was not raised in parliament, if the people were not enraged, would Najib still accept it,” Fahmi asked in a message on Twitter, accompanied by side-by-side screenshots of news reports about statements issued by Wan Junaidi and Najib.

Opposition lawmakers speak out

The gift caused an uproar in the Lower House on Thursday when Mahathir, Najib’s former mentor-turned-nemesis, called on Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, who was discussing the 2022 budget, to clarify the matter.

“The finance minister should have explained this in the budget and there is one particular item that was not mentioned in the budget. This is regarding a gift to former Prime Minister Najib Razak,” Mahathir said. “He is to be awarded with 100 million ringgit worth of land and residence purportedly because of his contributions to the country.

“All we know is that he is a convict who was found guilty and was sentenced to a 12-year jail term and fined 200 million ringgit – he was supposed to pay but he hasn’t. Is this his contribution that the government wished to reward him for?” Mahathir said.

Najib has been convicted on seven counts including money laundering linked to SRC International, a subsidiary of 1MDB. He is also standing trial on 25 counts including abuse of power and money laundering connected to 2.3 billion ringgit ($550 million) that went missing from 1MDB.

Mahathir’s revelation led opposition lawmakers to press for an immediate answer from the government.

Tengku Zafrul replied that the application was made after the 2022 Budget was introduced for debate, so it was not included in the budget document. He said questions should be referred to the Prime Minister’s Department.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Anwar expressed shock that the cabinet had approved Najib’s application.

“This matter was never discussed or made known to us during our meeting with the government side,” he said in a statement. “At the time when the people are suffering … the cabinet move to ‘award’ land and residence to someone who was convicted by the court is clearly the most immoral decision and makes no sense.”

Singapore returns 1MDB funds

In other related news, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission announced that Singaporean authorities last week returned 3.6 million ringgit ($865,000) acquired from Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, a former top executive at SRC International, a subsidiary of 1MDB. The commission noted that Singapore had previously returned assets valued at 64.4 million ringgit ($15.4 million) from Cutting Edge Industries Ltd.

To date, Malaysia with the help of international law enforcement agencies had recovered about 20.5 billion ringgit ($4.9 billion) in 1MDB assets, the commission said, adding that efforts to recover assets from Switzerland, Kuwait, Mauritius, Cyprus and Hong Kong continue. (Iskandar Zulkarnain/ Muzliza Mustafa| BenarNews)