The United States said Tuesday that Israel has made limited progress on increasing the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip as Washington requested, so the Biden administration will not limit arms transfers to Israel. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters that "we at this time have not made an assessment that the Israelis are in violation of U.S. law." The administration told its ally on October 13 that it had one month to increase aid to Gaza, where the situation after 13 months of war between Israel and Hamas militants has unleashed a catastrophic humanitarian situation, or face a reduction in military aid. The deadline was Tuesday. “We are not giving Israel a pass," Patel said, adding that "we want to see the totality of the humanitarian situation improve, and we think some of these steps will allow the conditions for that to continue to progress." Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israel’s top national security adviser, Ron Dermer, in Washington on Monday to go over the steps that Israel has taken. At the United Nations, U.S. envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council that Israel has taken some important steps, including restoring aid deliveries to the north, but that it must ensure its actions are “fully implemented and its improvements sustained over time.” “And we continue to reiterate, there must be no forcible displacement nor policy of starvation in Gaza, which would have grave implications under U.S. and international law,” she said. A senior U.N. human rights official said at the same meeting that the entry and distribution of aid into Gaza has fallen to “some of the lowest levels in a year” and criticized Israel’s conduct of military operations in the north. “All states, consistent with their obligations under international law, must therefore assess arms sales or transfers and provision of military, logistical or financial support to a party to the conflict, with a view to ending such support if this risks serious violations of international law,” Ilze Brands Kehris, U.N. assistant secretary-general for human rights, said. Israel denies it is limiting aid to Gaza, blaming the U.N. and aid agencies for slow distribution and Hamas for stealing it. Earlier Tuesday, eight international aid organizations said that of 19 measures of compliance with the U.S. demands, Israel failed to comply with 15 and only partially complied with four. "Israel not only failed to meet the U.S. criteria that would indicate support to the humanitarian response, but concurrently took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza," the report said. “That situation is in an even more dire state today than a month ago.” Asked what grade the United Nations would give Israel, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric would not offer one, but said, “I think from what we've been telling you over the last few days and frankly much longer, it's pretty clear that we're nowhere near what we need.” While aid entering Gaza is insufficient overall, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says it is especially bad in northern Gaza, where 85% of its attempts to coordinate aid convoys and humanitarian visits in October were denied or impeded. “As I brief you, Israeli authorities are blocking humanitarian assistance from entering North Gaza, where fighting continues, and around 75,000 people remain with dwindling water and food supplies,” acting humanitarian chief Joyce Msuya told the Security Council meeting. “Conditions of life across Gaza are unfit for human survival,” she said. Famine alert On Friday, U.N.-backed food security experts issued an urgent warning, saying there is a strong likelihood that famine is occurring or imminent in parts of northern Gaza and that immediate action is needed to avert a catastrophe. “By the time famine has been declared, people are already dying of hunger, with irreversible consequences that can last generations,” Rein Paulsen told the Security Council meeting. Paulsen is the director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience at the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. “The window of opportunity to deliver this assistance is now, today, not tomorrow,” he said. Israel’s U.N. ambassador told reporters ahead of the council meeting that the report by the famine committee of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC as the experts are known, is “harmful propaganda” and “filled with baseless and slanderous claims” against Israel. “As I have said here in the past, there are agencies dedicated to real humanitarian work, and then there are those like the IPC, which prioritize smearing Israel over actually helping those in need,” Danny Danon said. Inside the council, he said IPC claims of imminent famine in northern Gaza are “simply false,” and that Israel facilitated over 713 trucks into the north in October. He said across Gaza, a dozen bakeries produce pita bread, and overall, Israel is allowing aid in through multiple crossing points, including the Kissufim crossing to central Gaza, which was opened on Tuesday after having been shuttered 19 years ago. “Are these the actions of a state wishing to cause a famine?” Danon asked. Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said Israel should allow international journalists into Gaza to see for themselves whether there is famine or not. “We need international media, independent media, to go and to document exactly what is happening,” Mansour told reporters. “It is genocide in northern Gaza, and we need the international media to go and tell the story.” In 13 months of war, Israel has allowed only a few handpicked reporters to accompany its troops into Gaza on brief tours to see the Hamas tunnels. It has also shuttered the bureau of Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera in Israel. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 137 journalists and media workers have been killed, nearly all of them Palestinian. As the situation worsens, the Security Council’s 10 elected members are working on a draft resolution on the protection of civilians in the conflict and the need for an immediate cease-fire, release of hostages and scaling up of aid. Biden reaffirms support for Israel President Joe Biden reiterated his support of Israel during a Tuesday Oval Office meeting with Israel’s president and echoed the wish to see the return of the remaining hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza for more than a year. “My commitment to Israel is ironclad,” Biden told President Isaac Herzog during their morning meeting in the White House. “And we share a deep friendship.” Herzog underscored his government’s main objective: “First and foremost, we have to get the hostages back.” As President-elect Donald Trump begins to put his government together, his transition office announced Tuesday that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is his nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel, and real estate investor Steve Witkoff will be his special envoy to the Middle East. Air strikes in Gaza, Beirut Israeli airstrikes killed at least 14 people in Gaza on Tuesday, Palestinian authorities said, while in Lebanon, plumes of smoke rose above Beirut’s southern suburbs less than an hour after Israeli forces told residents to evacuate. A strike early Tuesday hit a house at a refugee camp in central Gaza, killing three people, according to Al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties. Israel's new defense minister, Israel Katz, said on X that during a meeting with military officials Tuesday, he reiterated that Israel will continue hitting Hezbollah with full force, and that there will be no cease-fire in Lebanon. The war in Gaza was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, although about one-third of them are believed to be dead. Israel's counteroffensive has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas militants. The war spread to Lebanon in mid-September, after months of rocket fire from Hezbollah into Israel and drone and airstrikes by Israel’s military in south Lebanon escalated. More than 3,200 Lebanese have been killed, most of them in the past six weeks. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell and United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.

With 20 Years of Partnership, Guinness Nigeria and FRSC Kick Off 2024 Ember Months Campaign Lagos, Nigeria – November 12, 2024 – Guinness Nigeria, in partnership with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Lagos State Sector Command, has launched the 2024 Ember Months Campaign to promote road safety during Nigeria’s busiest travel season. With the […]

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Dakar, Senagal — The CEO and two executives of Australian gold mine Resolute in Mali have been arrested while in Bamako to discuss ongoing disputes with authorities, the company confirmed Sunday. CEO Terence Holohan and his two colleagues "were in Bamako to discuss with mining and tax authorities the company's business practices in Mali generally and to make progress on ongoing claims against Resolute, which continues to claim they are unfounded," Resolute said in a statement posted on its website. "Unexpectedly, the three employees were arrested after the end of these meetings on Friday," she reported. The three executives were taken the same day to the unit specializing in the fight against corruption and economic and financial delinquency — and were placed in police custody in a case of alleged forgery and damage to public property, AFP learned Saturday from a judicial and industrial source. Four employees of the Canadian company Barrick Gold, also in dispute with the Malian authorities, were detained for several days at the end of September, then released. Foreign mining companies are subject to increased pressure from the junta that came to power by force in 2020 and pays particular attention to the juicy revenues of the mining industry. "Resolute is working to reach an agreement with the Malian government that secures the long-term future of the Syama gold mine; at the same time its top priority remains the safety and well-being of its employees," the company said. The executives benefit from the support of the embassies and consulates of the United Kingdom and other countries present in Mali, she said. Resolute holds 80% of the shares in the subsidiary that owns the Syama mine, with the remaining 20% in the hands of the Malian state, according to the company's website. The Malian authorities have made the fight against corruption and the restoration of national sovereignty over natural resources their mantras. Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, faces jihadis and a multidimensional crisis, and is also one of the leading gold producers in Africa. Gold contributes to a quarter of the national budget and three quarters of export revenues. The increased pressure on foreign companies coincided with the junta's strategic pivot toward Russia.

MANILA, Philippines — A new typhoon barreled across an agricultural region in the northeastern Philippines on Monday after thousands were evacuated to safety while still struggling to recover from the devastation caused by three successive storms in the last three weeks. Typhoon Toraji slammed into northeastern Aurora province and was forecast to blow over the mountainous Luzon region, where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — just the day before — inspected the damage from the last storm and led the distribution of food packs to residents in Cagayan and Ilocos provinces. Marcos skipped this week's Asia-Pacific Cooperation forum in Peru to oversee recovery efforts from back-to-back storms. After making landfall in Aurora on Monday morning with sustained winds of up to 130 kilometers (81 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 180 kph (112 mph), the typhoon was expected to barrel northwestward across Luzon, weaken as it crosses a mountain range and then blow into the South China Sea. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla on Sunday ordered the forcible evacuation of people in 2,500 villages expected to be lashed by Toraji, locally named Nika, warning that the rain-soaked Luzon mountains, valleys and plains were more susceptible to flash floods and landslides. With the typhoon approaching fast, there was little time to move large numbers of people to safety, he said. "We understand if some would want to stay, but we have to get them out," Remulla told reporters. The military said its disaster-response forces have been deployed near high-risk areas and were standing by for new contingencies. It added that it suspended combat drills in the north due to the weather. "Our commitment remains steadfast in safeguarding and assisting our countrymen specially in times of disaster," Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said. Schools were shut down, inter-island ferry services and domestic flights were suspended in provinces in or near the path of the typhoon, the 14th weather disturbance to batter the Philippine archipelago this year. Forecasters said they were monitoring another brewing storm in the Pacific that could affect the country if it strengthens. The last two typhoons and a tropical storm caused more than 160 deaths, damaged thousands of houses and farmlands and affected more than 9 million people, including hundreds of thousands who fled to emergency shelters, after dumping from one to two months' worth of rain in just 24 hours in some cities and towns. Overwhelmed, the Philippines received help from Southeast Asian countries led by Singapore, along with longtime treaty ally the United States, to transport food, water and other aid to hard-hit northern provinces. The Philippine archipelago is often battered by typhoons and earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages and caused ships to run aground and smash into houses in the central Philippines.

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwanese businessman Robert Tsao said on Monday he would sue in a Taiwan court senior Chinese officials over sanctions they had placed on him, saying he was seeking to counter China's intimidation of lawful activity. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, last month said it would punish and sanction Tsao, the retired founder of chipmaker UMC, for alleged criminal and pro-Taiwan independence activities. China's Taiwan Affairs Office said the "Black Bear Academy" that Tsao has helped fund was seeking to incite separatism that would endanger cross-strait ties. Tsao, one of Taiwan's richest men who has pledged to provide millions to two civilian defense training programs, told a press conference that China was threatening the lawful holding of political views in Taiwan, and his personal safety. The lawsuit will be lodged in a Taipei court against Song Tao, head of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, and also the office's spokesperson Chen Binhua. Taiwan courts have no jurisdiction in China and senior Chinese officials do not visit the island. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment. Cheng Wen-lung, one of Tsao's lawyers, said they understood that neither Song nor Chen would come to Taiwan and there would be no way of enforcing any judgment, but the case was about sending a message to Beijing, given it has been seeking to use legal means to put pressure on Taiwanese persons it does not like. "Legally, we have to do this," Cheng said. "Taiwan is in a difficult spot, but we have to work hard. You cannot not do anything." Tsao's team is also looking at suing in a U.S. court under that country's Alien Tort Claims Act. China's announcement against Tsao came as the country's military staged a day of war games around Taiwan it said were a warning to "separatist acts." Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. UMC says Tsao has nothing to do with the company any longer having retired a decade ago.

HANOI, VIETNAM — Vietnam said Chinese online retailers Shein and Temu need to register with the government before the end of November or it will block their internet domains and apps from being used in the country. Vietnam's government and local businesses have expressed concern about the impact of Chinese online platforms on local markets due to deep discounting. The trade ministry has also said it is worried about the potential for the sale of counterfeit items. Nguyen Hoang Long, Vietnam's deputy trade minister, told a government meeting at the weekend that the ministry had worked with both Shein and Temu on the licensing matter. "After the ministry's notification, if these platforms do not comply, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with relevant agencies to implement technical measures such as blocking applications and domains," Long said in a government statement. Shein and Temu did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Fast-fashion retailer Shein has been selling into Vietnam for at least two years, while Temu, owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, started allowing users in Vietnam to shop last month. Vietnam allows imported goods of up to $40 to be exempt from a value-added tax. The finance ministry said most items benefiting from this tax break are imported via e-commerce platforms and it is considering terminating the tax break. Both Temu and Shein are also facing increased scrutiny and legal challenges elsewhere. Last month, Indonesia requested Apple and Google block Temu from their app stores to protect small merchants from competing with ultra-cheap items. Vietnam's e-commerce market has grown 18% this year to be worth $22 billion, the third-largest in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia and Thailand, according to a report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company released last week. Other e-commerce platforms that operate in Vietnam include Singapore-based Shoppe, Alibaba-backed Lazada and domestic companies Tiki and Sendo.

Taipei, Taiwan — Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. has secured another term in office after defeating former President Tommy Remengesau Jr. in its Nov. 5 election that was closely monitored. Palau sits on the front line of competition for geopolitical influence between the United States and China in the Pacific Ocean. Analysts say the outcome shows more Palauan voters support Whipps’ policy agenda, which includes tax reforms and deeper engagement with the United States. “It seems Palau’s closer relationship with the United States under Whipps Jr.’s leadership makes sense for the majority of Palauans,” said Henryk Szadziewski, an expert on Pacific affairs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. While election authorities still haven’t finished counting absentee ballots, Whipps has won the vote with one of the biggest margins in Palau’s electoral history, 57.5%. Remengesau, who is Whipps’ brother-in-law, took 41.3%. Whipps thanked supporters for allowing him to continue “building on the progress” that his administration has achieved over the last four years. “Your decision to grant me a second term as president is a responsibility I hold with the utmost respect,” he said in a statement shared with VOA on Monday. The president can only have two consecutive four-year terms and must step down after that, but he can run again after a four-year gap in between. Remengesau has served a total of four terms already. Separately, the spokesperson for Palau’s election commission told Radio New Zealand the following day that it was “highly unlikely” that Whipps would lose the election. Meanwhile, in a concession speech broadcast by a local radio station, the Palau Wave Productions, on November 7, Remengesau said the election is finished and the Palauan people have “spoken through a peaceful and free election.” Palau has a population of around 20,000 people and is situated around 890 kilometers (550 miles) east of the Philippines. It is one of three Pacific Island countries that receive significant economic support from the U.S. under agreements known as the Compacts of Free Association, or COFA. Under the accords, the U.S. provides economic aid worth billions of dollars, while Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia give the U.S. exclusive military access to their land, water and airspace, as well as the right to deny China access to their ports and territorial waters. In September, U.S. lawmakers passed funding for key provisions in COFA for Palau. The U.S. military is also helping to repair a runway on a World War II-era Japanese airfield on the island of Peleliu and installing two radar systems on Palau. Experts say they expect Palau to keep deepening ties with the U.S. during Whipps’ second term and relevant efforts will likely include increasing the frequency of U.S. military visits and enhancing connectivity with Palau. “There’s going to be a much stronger U.S. presence in terms of military visits, joint actions to combat transnational crime and illegal fishing, and boost transport and digital connectivity,” Meg Keen, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute in Australia, told VOA by phone. During his first term, Whipps repeatedly said “presence is deterrence,” referring to the increased U.S. military presence in Palau, and characterized the Pacific island country as “part of the U.S. homeland” when it comes to security. In an interview with VOA last month, Whipps said U.S. protection plays a key role in safeguarding Palau’s territorial integrity. “Since Palau is small, having the protection of the United States is important because we see what’s happening now in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China,” he said during an interview at his office in Koror, Palau. Since 2023, the Chinese and Philippine coast guards have repeatedly confronted each other at several disputed shoals that both sides claim to be their territories. While Beijing views almost the entire South China Sea as its territorial water, a 2016 ruling by an international arbitration court found that most Chinese claims in the South China Sea were invalid. Beijing refuses to abide by the ruling. While many Palauans support the Whipps administration’s efforts to deepen security ties with the U.S., some political observers say some Palauans are still concerned about the negative impacts associated with the increased U.S. military presence across the Pacific island country. “Some Palauan people hold this apprehensiveness about the implication of increased U.S. military presence in Palau because they rarely saw U.S. soldiers in military uniforms in the past,” Kambes Kesolei, editor of one of Palau’s main newspapers, Tia Belau, told VOA by phone. “Some Palauans wonder what they can do to prevent Palau from becoming over-militarized,” he added. In addition to deepening ties with the U.S., some analysts say Palau will maintain its diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which could lead to “increased coercive pressure” from China. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has repeatedly vowed to reunite with the island, by force if necessary. “I expect ties between Palau and Taiwan to remain robust but increasing coercive pressure from the People’s Republic of China, [PRC,] may increase risks for Palau, which will need strong support from the U.S. and like-minded partners to maintain resiliency against PRC coercion,” Parker Novak, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, told VOA in a written response. Whipps has accused China of weaponizing tourism against Palau and posing a wide range of threats to the Pacific island country’s national security, including cyberattacks and illegal incursion of Palau’s territorial water by Chinese vessels. “In 2015 and 2016, tourism numbers from China went through the roof, which helped Palau’s economy grow 30%, but since Palau never switched diplomatic recognition [from Taiwan] to China, that number just basically collapsed in the following years,” Whipps told VOA. In response to questions about Whipps’ claim that China has pressured Palau to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said during a regular press conference on November 4 that only a small number of countries, including Palau, still maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. “China urges these countries to fulfill their obligations under international law, stand on the right side of history, and make right decisions that truly serve their fundamental and long-term interests at an early date,” she said. While Whipps is likely to remain critical of China’s attempt to coerce Palau, Keen in Australia said the Palauan president is not going to completely “shut the door for China.” “He is very much wary of how China has used land and tourism to build pressure, but if the investment is in the national interests of Palau, he is willing to consider,” she told VOA.

MELBOURNE, Australia — An emperor penguin found malnourished far from its Antarctic home on the Australian south coast is being cared for by a wildlife expert, a government department said Monday.  The adult male was found on November 1 on a popular tourist beach in the town of Denmark in temperate southwest Australia — about 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) north of the icy waters off the Antarctic coast, according to a statement from the Western Australia state’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.  The largest penguin species has never been reported in Australia before, University of Western Australia research fellow Belinda Cannell said, though some had reached New Zealand, nearly all of which is farther south than Western Australia.  Cannell said she had no idea why the penguin traveled to Denmark.  Cannell is advising seabird rehabilitator Carol Biddulph, who is caring for the penguin, spraying him with a chilled water mist to help him cope with his alien climate. The penguin is 1 meter (39 inches) tall and initially weighed 23 kilograms (51 pounds).  A healthy male can weigh more than 45 kilograms (100 pounds).  The department said its efforts were focused on rehabilitating the penguin. Asked if the penguin could potentially be returned to Antarctica, the department replied that “options are still being worked through.”

wellington, new zealand — New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made a “formal and unreserved” apology in Parliament on Tuesday for the widespread abuse, torture and neglect of hundreds of thousands of children and vulnerable adults in care. “It was horrific. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” Luxon said, as he spoke to lawmakers and a public gallery packed with survivors of the abuse. An estimated 200,000 people in state, foster and faith-based care suffered “unimaginable” abuse over a period of seven decades, a blistering report released in July said at the end of the largest inquiry ever undertaken in New Zealand. They were disproportionately Māori, New Zealand’s Indigenous people. “For many of you it changed the course of your life, and for that, the government must take responsibility,” Luxon said. He said he was apologizing for previous governments too. In foster and church care — as well as in state-run institutions, including hospitals and residential schools — vulnerable people “should have been safe and treated with respect, dignity and compassion," he added. “But instead, you were subjected to horrific abuse and neglect and, in some cases, torture.” The findings of the six-year investigation believed to be the widest-ranging of comparable probes worldwide were a “national disgrace,” the inquiry's report said. New Zealand's investigation followed two decades of such inquiries around the globe as nations struggle to reckon with authorities’ transgressions against children removed from their families and placed in care. Of 650,000 children and vulnerable adults in New Zealand's state, foster, and church care between 1950 and 2019 — in a country that today has a population of 5 million — nearly a third endured physical, sexual, verbal or psychological abuse. Many more were exploited or neglected. “We will never know that true number,” Chris Hipkins, the leader of the opposition, told Parliament. “Many people entering into state and faith-based institutions were undocumented. Records were incomplete, they've gone missing, and in some cases, yes, they were deliberately destroyed.” In response to the findings, New Zealand’s government agreed for the first time that historical treatment of some children in a notorious state-run hospital amounted to torture — a claim successive administrations had rejected. “I am deeply sorry that New Zealand did not do better by you. I am sorry you were not believed when you came forward to report your abuse,” Luxon said. “I am sorry that many abusers were not made to face justice which meant that other people experienced abuse that could have been prevented.” His government was working on 28 of the inquiry's 138 recommendations, Luxon said, although he did not yet have concrete details on financial redress, which the inquiry had exhorted since 2021 and said could run to billions of dollars. Luxon was decried by some survivors and advocates earlier Tuesday for not divulging compensation plans alongside the apology. He told Parliament a single redress system would be established in 2025. He did not, however, suggest a figure for the amount the government expected to pay. “There will be a big bill, but it's nothing compared to the debt we owe those survivors and it must not be the reason for any further delay,” said Hipkins, the opposition leader. Survivors began to arrive at Parliament hours before the apology, having won spots in the public gallery — which only seats about 200 people — by ballot. Some were reluctant to accept the state's words, because they said the scale of the horror was not yet fully understood by lawmakers and public servants. Jeering was so loud during an apology from the country's solicitor-general that her speech was inaudible. Others called out or left the room in tears while senior public servants from relevant health and welfare agencies spoke before Luxon's remarks. Survivors invited to give speeches were required to do so before Luxon's apology — rather than in response to it, said Tu Chapman, one of those asked to speak. “Right now I feel alone and in utter despair at the way in which this government has undertaken the task of acknowledging all survivors,” she told a crowd at Parliament. The abuse "ripped families and communities apart, trapping many into a life of prison, incarceration, leaving many uneducated,” said Keith Wiffin — a survivor of abuse in a notorious state-run boys' home. “It has tarred our international reputation as an upholder of human rights, something this nation likes to dine out on.” The inquiry's recommendations included seeking apologies from state and church leaders, among them Pope Francis. It also endorsed creating offices to prosecute abusers and enact redress, renaming streets and monuments dedicated to abusers, reforming civil and criminal law, rewriting the child welfare system and searching for unmarked graves at psychiatric facilities. Its writers were scathing about how widely the abuse — and the identities of many abusers — were known about for years, with nothing done to stop it. “This has meant you have had to re-live your trauma over and over again,” said Luxon. “Agencies should have done better and must commit to doing so in the future.” He did not concede that public servants or ministers in his government who had denied state abuse was widespread when they served in previous administrations should lose their jobs. Luxon has also rejected suggestions by survivors that policies he has enacted which disproportionately target Māori — such as crackdowns on gangs and the establishment of military-style boot camps for young offenders — undermine his government's regret about the abuse. Māori are over-represented in prisons and gangs. In 2023, 68% of children in state care were Māori, although they are less than 20% of New Zealand's population. “It's not enough to say sorry,” said Fa’afete Taito, a survivor of violent abuse at another state-run home, and a former gang member. “It's what you do to heal the wounds of your actions and make sure it never happens again that really counts.”

Johannesburg  — President-elect Donald Trump talked tough on China during his campaign, vowing to impose higher and sweeping tariffs on imports from the Asian giant. Beijing will now also be closely watching the incoming administration’s movements further afield, in Africa, where U.S.-China rivalry is high. Experts disagree on what a second Trump term will mean for Beijing’s ambitions on the continent, with some saying it could be a boon for China – Africa’s biggest trade partner – if the U.S. pursues an isolationist, “America First” agenda that mostly ignores the region. But Tibor Nagy, who served as Trump’s Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2018 to 2021 has a different perspective. He said Trump grasped how powerful a player China had become on the continent. “It was the Trump administration that was the first to kind of recognize the existential threat that China poses,” Nagy told VOA. “We were on the front lines of that in Africa, and we saw what the Chinese were doing,” said Nagy, who also served as the U.S. ambassador to Guinea and Ethiopia during the administrations of presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Nagy told VOA he does not think the incoming Republican administration will neglect Africa because it sees China as a threat to U.S interests there. He also said the continent is a major source of critical minerals attractive to both superpowers. Nagy credits the first Trump administration with introducing policies on the continent intended to counter China's influence. “We had … the right focus because we made it about the youth. You know, our premise was that Africa is going to be undergoing a youth tsunami with the population doubling by 2050. And that more than anything, what the youth really wanted was jobs,” he said. To this end, Nagy says, the first Trump administration set up Prosper Africa in 2018, an initiative designed to assist American companies doing business in Africa, and he expects the incoming administration will remain engaged there. “Africa remains very much the front lines,” he said. “The United States is extremely concerned about our strategic minerals, and when a hostile power has a lock on strategic minerals, that's really not very good when you need the strategic minerals for your top-end technology and for weapon systems.” But Christian-Geraud Neema, Africa editor for the China-Global South Project, is skeptical and said a second term for Trump could be an opportunity for Beijing. “Looking at his first term, Trump didn't show much interest in Africa, which is likely to be the case still now,” he told VOA. “Only a few countries will matter — countries whose resources or position matter to the U.S. national security interests.” “China will have room to maneuver and increase its influence in so many ways,” he added. Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, echoed this. “I doubt that Africa will be a featured priority for Trump,” she told VOA in an emailed response, adding that the United States’ absence on the continent “will boost the prominence of the Chinese position by its presence.” Lobito corridor future Views on how successfully President Joe Biden’s administration has engaged with Africa are also mixed. Many analysts said regardless of whether the Democrats or the Republicans are in office, the continent is usually an afterthought in U.S. foreign policy, which does not differ much from one administration to the next. The current administration said it was “all in on Africa,” when Biden hosted dozens of heads of state at his first African Leaders Summit in 2022, an event seen as an attempt at reasserting U.S. influence in the face of a rising China. Yet, “African leaders or the African Union were not consulted about the agenda of the 2022 US-Africa Leaders Summit. This was also the case with the US’s Africa strategy,” wrote Christopher Isike, the director of African Centre for the Study of the United States at the University of Pretoria, in an article co-signed by Samuel Oyewole, political science postdoctoral research fellow at the university While Trump never traveled to Africa as president, top Biden administration officials did visit the continent, including the vice president. Biden is also expected to travel to Angola before the end of his term in December. Under Biden, the U.S. agreed to develop the Lobito Corridor and Zambia-Lobito rail line, a project described by the State Department as “the most significant transport infrastructure that the United States has helped develop on the African continent in a generation.” The rail line is seen as part of a transcontinental vision connecting the Atlantic and Indian oceans. The undertaking is to be financed through a joint agreement calling for the U.S., African Development Bank, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and the European Union to support Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia. Observers see it as an attempt to compete with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s global infrastructure project the Belt and Road Initiative, which has built railways, ports and roads across Africa. There is concern among some analysts that Trump could pull back from this. “Existing bilateral and multilateral business partnerships … such as the Lobito Corridor … might wane significantly during the next Trump administration,” said Oluwole Ojewale, a Nigerian analyst with the Institute for Security Studies, in an email to VOA. “When that happens China will gain significant mileage in areas where the US Government’s exit creates a vacuum on the continent,” he added. But Nagy disagreed, saying the Lobito Corridor is the “kind of project which would have come right out of the Trump administration.” Therefore, there’s likely to be continuity, he added, noting: “The deal is done. Again, I can't speak for President Trump, or the people who are going to be coming in … but it's logical.” ‘Other Friends’ When asked how African leaders will navigate the next Trump administration, Sun said they could play the U.S. and China against each other. “Africa could highlight its role in the US-China great power competition in order to strengthen its position in the US grand strategy,” she said in an email to VOA. But she is doubtful African leaders will take that route because it “will carry the effect of being forced to choose, which I doubt that Africa will want to do.” However, at least one African politician has already alluded to this option. Kenya’s Raila Odinga, who is in the running to take over as chair of the African Union Commission next year, was blunt in his assessment of how African governments would handle a more isolationist U.S. under Trump. “If he does not want to work with Africa,” Odinga told Agence France-Presse last week, “Africa has got other friends.”

Washington — Following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, leaders in the Uyghur American community are advocating for renewed U.S. attention on human rights abuses in Xinjiang in northwest China, where Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have reportedly faced severe repression. Advocates urge Trump to continue his administration’s previous measures against China, citing the impact of his first-term policies on Uyghur rights. During Trump’s first term, his administration formally labeled China’s actions in Xinjiang as genocide, leading to sanctions on Chinese officials and entities connected with alleged abuses, including mass detentions, forced labor and sterilizations. China has consistently denied accusations of abuses against ethnic minorities, asserting its policies aim to combat extremism and terrorism. Nury Turkel, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, pointed to the bipartisan support for Uyghur rights, underscoring that these concerns resonate across both U.S. legislative and executive branches. “[Uyghur rights] concerns extend beyond typical human rights issues. They have profound national security implications tied to America’s long-term economic and strategic security,” Turkel told VOA. Turkel expressed cautious optimism that Trump’s new administration will build on its previous actions, referencing the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act and the genocide designation. “I am optimistic that the incoming administration will take concrete steps to address these urgent concerns affecting Uyghurs, as it had previously,” he said. VOA contacted the Trump campaign for a comment regarding the new administration’s plans for Uyghur rights in China but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Renewed calls for action Uyghur American leaders plan to press Trump’s administration to bolster sanctions on Chinese officials and entities involved in abuses against Uyghurs, with the hope of strengthening the U.S. response. “I anticipate that the Trump administration will impose additional sanctions on Chinese officials and entities responsible for atrocity crimes against the Uyghurs, potentially strengthening U.S. efforts to confront these abuses,” Turkel added. Rushan Abbas, executive director of the Washington-based Campaign for Uyghurs, emphasized the need for strict enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021. “Uyghurs are enduring a genocide, and Americans should know that addressing the genocide of Uyghurs is not just a foreign policy matter; it’s about preventing the U.S. from becoming complicit through the consumption of Chinese products tainted by forced labor,” Abbas told VOA. “[I]t’s about stopping China from using Americans’ hard-earned money to fuel their imperial ambitions and undermine the United States, and rejecting foreign intimidation on U.S. soil.” Salih Hudayar, prime minister of the Washington-based East Turkistan Government in Exile, echoed these sentiments, urging the Trump administration to formally recognize the region — referred to as Xinjiang by China but called East Turkistan by many Uyghurs —as an occupied nation. “An independent East Turkistan would directly challenge China’s ambitions for dominance across Central Asia and the Indo-Pacific, safeguarding American and broader global interests,” Hudayar told VOA. He suggested appointing a special coordinator for Uyghur issues to demonstrate U.S. support for Uyghur rights and those of other minorities in the region. Current policy challenges Despite calls for stronger actions, Uyghur American advocates remain concerned that economic and strategic interests with China may take precedence. Turkel highlighted that various advocacy groups have influenced the U.S. response to Uyghur issues in recent years. “Climate activists have lobbied for closer cooperation with China on environmental initiatives; pro-engagement China watchers have advocated a softer, more conciliatory approach to 'lower the temperature' in U.S.-China relations; and business interests have warned of the economic risks of escalating tensions, pushing for policies that protect U.S.-China trade relations,” he said. “These pressures have contributed to a more nuanced stance and a quieter approach to human rights and Uyghur-related policies.” Turkel added, “While steps like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act were commendable [during the Biden administration], the focus on Uyghur rights has often been eclipsed by broader geopolitical priorities,” pointing to how shifting U.S. economic priorities have impacted the response. Addressing transnational repression In addition to actions on Uyghur rights, Uyghur American leaders are urging the Trump administration to address transnational repression by China, specifically targeting covert operations that intimidate Uyghur Americans on U.S. soil. “The administration should take immediate steps to multiply the efforts to counter transnational repression by Chinese authorities, particularly targeting the presence of covert Chinese police stations and agents who monitor and intimidate Uyghur Americans and China dissidents in the U.S.,” Abbas said. Abbas noted Trump’s efforts in securing hostage releases in his first term, urging him to prioritize Uyghur detainees held in China. “China continues to detain Uyghur [American] family members and community leaders as a tactic to silence Uyghurs abroad … with many forced to self-censor to protect their families,” she said, advocating for strong U.S. efforts to secure their release and end repression tactics targeting Uyghurs in the diaspora.

Madaxweynaha Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky ayaa ku dhawaaqay isniintii in ciidamada Ukraine ay isku dhacyo kula jiraan…

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