Fatima Alzahra Shon thinks neighbors attacked her and her son in their Istanbul apartment building because she is Syrian.  

 

The 32-year-old refugee from Aleppo was confronted on Sept. 1 by a Turkish woman who asked her what she was doing in “our” country. Shon replied, “Who are you to say that to me?” The situation quickly escalated.

 

A man came out of the Turkish woman’s apartment half-dressed, threatening to cut Shon and her family “into pieces,” she recalled. Another neighbor, a woman, joined in, shouting and hitting Shon. The group then pushed her down a flight of stairs. Shon said that when her 10-year-old son, Amr, tried to intervene, he was beaten as well.

Shon said she has no doubt about the motivation for the aggression: “Racism.”

 

Refugees fleeing the long conflict in Syria once were welcomed in neighboring Turkey with open arms, sympathy and compassion for fellow Muslims. But attitudes gradually hardened as the number of newcomers swelled over the past decade.

 

Anti-immigrant sentiment is now nearing a boiling point, fueled by Turkey’s economic woes. With unemployment high and the prices of food and housing skyrocketing, many Turks have turned their frustration toward the country’s roughly 5 million foreign residents, particularly the 3.7 million who fled the civil war in Syria.

 

In August, violence erupted in Ankara, the Turkish capital, as an angry mob vandalized Syrian businesses and homes in response to the deadly stabbing of a Turkish teenager.

 

Turkey hosts the world’s largest refugee population, and many experts say that has come at a cost. Selim Sazak, a visiting international security researcher at Bilkent University in Ankara and an advisor to officials from the opposition IYI Party, compared the arrival of so many refugees to absorbing “a foreign state that’s ethnically, culturally, linguistically dissimilar.”  

 

“Everyone thought that it would be temporary,” Sazak said. “I think it’s only recently that the Turkish population understood that these people are not going back. They are only recently understanding that they have to become neighbors, economic competitors, colleagues with this foreign population.”

 

On a recent visit to Turkey, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi acknowledged that the high number of refugees had created social tensions, especially in the country’s big cities. He urged “donor countries and international organizations to do more to help Turkey.”

 

The prospect of a new influx of refugees following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has reinforced the unreceptive public mood. Videos purporting to show young Afghan men being smuggled into Turkey from Iran caused public outrage and led to calls for the government to safeguard the country’s borders.

 

The government says there are about 300,000 Afghans in Turkey, some of whom hope to continue their journeys to reach Europe.

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who long defended an open-door policy toward refugees, recently recognized the public’s “unease” and vowed not to allow the country to become a “warehouse” for refugees. Erdogan’s government sent soldiers to Turkey’s eastern frontier with Iran to stem the expected flow of Afghans and is speeding up the construction of a border wall.

 

Immigration is expected to become a top campaign topic even though Turkey’s next general election is two years away. Both Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and the nationalist IYI Party have promised to work on creating conditions that would allow the Syrian refugees’ return. waste collection fees foreigners there to propel them to leave.  

 

Following the anti-Syrian violence in the Altindag district of Ankara last month, Umit Ozdag, a right-wing politician who recently formed his own anti-immigrant party, visited the area wheeling an empty suitcase and saying the time has come for the refugees to “start packing.”

 

The riots broke out on Aug. 11, a day after a Turkish teenager was stabbed to death in a fight with a group of young Syrians. Hundreds of people chanting anti-immigrant slogans took to the streets, vandalized Syrian-run shops and hurled rocks at refugees’ homes.

 

A 30-year-old Syrian woman with four children who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals said her family locked themselves in their bathroom as an attacker climbed onto their balcony and tried to force the door open. The woman said the episode traumatized her 5-year-old daughter and the girl has trouble sleeping at night.

 

Some shops in the area remain closed, with traces of the disturbance still visible on their dented, metal shutters. Police have deployed multiple vehicles and a water cannon on the streets to prevent a repeat of the turmoil.

 

Syrians are often accused of failing to assimilate in Turkey, a country that has a complex relationship with the Arab world dating back to the Ottoman empire. While majority Muslim like neighboring Arab countries, Turks trace their origins to nomadic warriors from central Asia and Turkish belongs to a different language group than Arabic.

 

Kerem Pasaoglu, a pastry shop owner in Istanbul, said he wants Syrians to go back to their country and is bothered that some shops a street over have signs written in Arabic instead of Turkish.

 

“Just when we said we are getting used to Syrians or they will leave, now the Afghans coming is unfortunately very difficult for us,” he said.

 

Turkey’s foreign minister this month said Turkey is working with the United Nations’ refugee agency to safely return Syrians to their home country.

 

While the security situation has stabilized in many parts of Syria after a decade of war, forced conscription, indiscriminate detentions and forced disappearances continue to be reported. Earlier this month, Amnesty International said some Syrian refugees who returned home were subjected to detention, disappearance and torture at the hands of Syrian security forces, proving that going back to any part of the country is unsafe.

 

Shon said police in Istanbul showed little sympathy when she reported the attack by her neighbors. She said officers kept her at the station for hours, while the male neighbor who threatened and beat her was able to leave after giving a brief statement.

 

Shon fled Aleppo in 2012, when the city became a battleground between Syrian government forces and rebel fighters. She said the father of her children drowned while trying to make it to Europe. Now, she wonders whether Turkey is the right place for her and her children.

 

“I think of my children’s future. I try to support them in any way I can, but they have a lot of psychological issues now and I don’t know how to help them overcome it,” she said. “I don’t have the power anymore. I’m very tired.

 
…

Young climate activists from Greta Thunberg’s Friday for Future movement resumed mass street protests on Friday for the first time since the pandemic began, demanding drastic action from global leaders ahead of U.N. climate talks in November.

From Nairobi to Washington, marchers — including Thunberg, who joined protests in Berlin — carried placards and homemade banners during the demonstrations, which drew fewer protesters than before COVID-19 in most cities.

“It’s slightly disappointing there are less people than there used to be, but people will come back. The problem is not going away,” said Erin Brodrick, 17, one of about 250 protesters in London’s Parliament Square.

Before the pandemic, the square often overflowed with activists during larger Friday marches.

Brodrick said young people “feel really scared about the future of the planet” as they see climate change impacts strengthen and emissions continue to rise, despite a raft of political promises to slash them.

But because underage protesters cannot vote, “what else can I do but come out here?” she said, wielding a green “Planet Over Politics” sign.

In Barcelona, about 200 youth activists, children and parents joined a protest around a cloth depicting the Earth, showing their support for a court action launched in June aimed at forcing the Spanish government to boost its climate policy.

Gathered in the Catalan capital’s main square, they also demanded a stop to a planned expansion of Barcelona’s airport.

Filip Frey, a 23-year-old Polish activist studying engineering in Barcelona, said younger people will be the ones who pay for the selfish actions of politicians who “only care about their publicity, their money, their power.”

“We are just furious and angry,” he said, urging society as a whole to join the youth protests. “If we don’t do anything, nothing will change and we will just burn or drown.”

‘Not being heard’

In Nairobi, where about 30 activists in green-and-white T-shirts gathered in a central park, many said there was little evidence politicians were listening to their pleas to work faster to cut emissions and curb climate risks.

“Young people have been speaking up for years now and there is a lot of impatience … We want to begin seeing governments taking rapid action,” said Elizabeth Wathuti, head of campaigns for the Wangari Maathai Foundation, a local environmental group.

“We’ve been speaking out about this, but our voices are not being heard,” she said, adding that “we’re the ones that have to live with the consequences of the inaction.”

Patricia Kombo, another activist, said one aim of the protest was to push politicians to commit to more aggressive action on climate change ahead of the upcoming international COP26 U.N. climate negotiations in Glasgow, starting Oct. 31.

“We’ve had a lot of climate talks but what we get is empty promises. We want real climate action at COP26 because we can’t wait any longer,” she said as activists waved signs saying, “Stand up for climate justice” and “Later is too late.”

Protesters gathered in Washington said they were pushing for a comprehensive $3.5 trillion national U.S. climate bill and an immediate transition to green energy, said Magnolia Mead, one of the organizers.

Jamie Minden, 18, a student at Washington’s American University, said the movement’s return to large-scale protests was crucial to keeping up pressure for climate action.

“It is so critical to get back out in the streets – it’s not the same online,” she said. Street protests “get a lot more attention.”

Activist Shelby Grace Tucker, 14, who had come to the protest from Baltimore, said getting back on the streets felt “really empowering” and was a way for younger people – who might not otherwise be able to garner attention, to “still make a difference.”

Merging movements

To weather the pandemic, Fridays for Future largely moved online, with education programs and other events, though small groups continued to protest on the streets.

But the group also used the time to try to broaden the movement and coordinate its work with social pushes on other issues including race.

Sasha Langeveldt, 24, a Black Fridays for Future activist now working for the Friends of the Earth nonprofit, said that as activists grew older the movement needed to focus more on turning protesters into voters.

Langeveldt said young people were increasingly taking climate action into their own hands as well, citing an online green jobs summit in London she is helping organize in October. “We want to show politicians things can actually change,” she said.

Rowan Riley, 29, a London architect at the protest, agreed, saying he was now part of the London Energy Transformation Initiative, working on changing building design and regulation with climate change and renewable energy in mind. “We have to find other ways to influence things. It’s not always about the numbers at protests,” he said.

Carrying a “Grandparents and Elders” flag at the London march, Pat Farrington, 78, said she wanted to see governments “take everything more seriously.”

That should include training more young people for green jobs like installing insulation or solar panels, and doing more to help the public understand the potential economic benefits of a climate-smart transition.

“Right now, people say, ‘I can’t afford a posh electric car,’ and they feel their pockets are being picked,” she said. 

 

 
…

Fresh volcanic eruptions in Spain’s Canary Islands prompted the cancellation of flights, airport authorities said Friday, the first since the Cumbre Vieja volcano came to life again.

New evacuations were also ordered as large explosions and new openings were reported at the volcano on La Palma island on Friday.

A large cloud of thick, black ash spewed into the air, forcing several airlines to call off flights.

La Palma had six inter-island flights scheduled for Friday operated by Binter, Canaryfly and Air Europa, while the national carrier Iberia had a single service from Madrid to the mainland. All were scrapped.

They were the first flights to be cancelled since the volcano erupted on Sunday.

“It is not yet possible to say when we can resume flights,” Spanish carrier Binter said on Twitter.

Authorities also ordered new evacuations, adding to the 6,100 people already forced to leave to area this week, including 400 tourists.

The compulsory evacuation order was issued in parts of El Paso town on La Palma island “given the increased risk for the population due to the current eruptive episode,” the regional government said.

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation Program, the lava has so far destroyed 390 buildings and covered more than 180 hectares of land.

Video footage from the civil guard showed a garden in the area completely covered in thick ash.

Visiting the island, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced La Palma would be declared a zone affected by a catastrophe” which opens financial aid to residents.

Toxic gas fears

The speed of the lava flowing from the mouth of the volcano has steadily slowed in recent days, and experts are hoping it will not reach the coast.

If the molten lava pours into the sea, experts fear it will generate clouds of toxic gas into the air, also affecting the marine environment.

Authorities set up a no-go zone this week to head off curious onlookers.

No casualties have been reported so far but the damage to land and property has been enormous, with the Canaries regional head Angel Victor Torres estimating the cost at well over $470 million.

The eruption on La Palma, home to 85,000 people, was the first in 50 years.

The last eruption on the island came in 1971 when another part of the same volcanic range — a vent known as Teneguia — erupted on the southern side of the island.

Two decades earlier, the Nambroque vent erupted in 1949.

 
…

A potential deal to bring as many as 1,000 Russian mercenaries to Mali is likely to further destabilize the country, according to senior U.S. officials who are urging the interim government to instead focus on elections.

Word of the not-yet-finalized deal, with Russia’s Wagner Group, has already rankled some French and European officials. And it now appears to be drawing increased attention from the United States, itself wary of Russian efforts across Africa.

“We continue to be concerned about the rise … of malign influences on the continent,” a senior administration official said Friday in response to a question from VOA about the potential deal with Moscow.

“We don’t think looking to outside forces to provide security is the way forward,” the official said.

“That is not how to best start down the road to true stability,” the official added, stressing the need to move ahead with a transition to a “fully elected, democratic government.”

The comments came just days after Mali celebrated its independence, with an estimated 3,000 people taking to the streets of Bamako to protest Western anger over the deal with Russia, some of them calling concerns about the tentative agreement “foreign meddling.”

The deal, first reported by Reuters, would pay Wagner $10.8 million a month to train Mali’s military and provide security for senior officials.

Malian authorities have also been increasingly vocal in expressing displeasure with the U.S. and France, which announced in June that it would bring home about 2,000 counterterrorism forces it had in Mali and neighboring countries.

“If partners have decided to leave certain areas, if they decide to leave tomorrow — what do we do?” Prime Minister Choguel Maiga asked in remarks posted on the country’s Le Jalon news site. “Should we not have a plan B?”

In a possible effort to ease such concerns, the U.S. sent the commander of U.S. forces for Africa, General Stephen Townsend, to Mali on Thursday, where he and other U.S. officials met with Malian transitional President Assimi Goita and Defense Minister Sadio Camara.

“Malian and international partner forces have shed blood together while fighting against the terrorists that threaten innocent civilians in Mali and the Sahel,” Townsend said in a statement Friday, following the visit.

“We want to continue this long-standing partnership,” he added.

Following France’s announcement that it would be reducing its counterterrorism forces in Mali and the Sahel, the Pentagon said it would continue to “assist building partner capacity” in the region.

And recent meetings of the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS have focused on stopping the spread of the Islamic State and other terror groups in Africa, and in Mali in particular.

However, while U.S. AFRICOM is working with a number of partners in West Africa and the Sahel, security assistance to Mali itself has been limited, under U.S. law, because of the coup.

Much of the concern focuses on IS-Greater Sahara, which is thought to have at least several hundred fighters in the region, and on the al-Qaida-affiliated Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, also known as JNIM.

U.S. and European military officials have also long expressed concerns about Russian involvement in Africa, warning of the corrosive influence of mercenaries with the Wagner Group, who are often perceived to be doing the Kremlin’s dirty work.

“They are everywhere,” Vice Admiral Hervé Bléjean, director-general of the European Union Military Staff, told a forum this past June. “They bring nothing to the country except immediate security answers, maybe, at the price of committing a lot of … violations of human rights and atrocities.”

On Friday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters the presence of Wagner Group mercenaries in Mali would be “a red line for us.”

“It would have immediate consequences on our cooperation [with Russia] on many other issues,” he added. 

VOA’s Bambara Service and Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.
…

Namibian activists and opposition members stormed parliament this week over a deal with Germany to atone for a colonial genocide more than a century ago.

Opposition lawmakers also called for a renegotiation of the deal, in which Germany has agreed to fund about $1.3 billion in development projects over 30 years to redress land taken and tens of thousands killed from 1904 to 1908. Critics said the amount was insufficient.

Activist Sima Luipert vowed legal action if the Namibian parliament approved a bill accepting the deal. She said the deal, which the Namibian and German governments reached in May, violated the participation and informed consent rights of the ethnic Ovaherero and Nama peoples.

Hundreds gather

Luipert was one of about 300 protesters at the Namibian parliament Tuesday objecting to the bill. Some in the group jumped over gates to voice their opposition.

The Landless People’s Movement, which led the protest, said it wanted to ensure opposition to the bill was heard. Group spokesman Eneas Emvula said, “Part of the people that walked this long journey to parliament, from Katutura, alongside Independence Avenue, are actually members of parliament and leaders of the opposition political parties within parliament.”

Namibian Vice President Nangolo Mbumba said everyone has a right to protest. But he also underscored that opponents of the deal who wanted direct compensation would not get it.

“People thought because this is a genocide negotiation issue, the descendants of those communities, the victims, they would now be compensated individually,” Mbumba said. “The Jewish people were being compensated as survivors; so are the Mau Maus. We are talking after 117 years, if you count from 1904. It is four generations already.”

Supporters say the agreement, which took years to negotiate, is acceptable for an atrocity committed by a Germany that existed before World War I.

 
…

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet reported the human rights situation in Belarus continues to worsen, as President Alexander Lukashenko stiffens repressive measures to quell dissent.

The High Commissioner has submitted her latest update on Belarus to the U.N. Human Rights Council.  

This latest report examines alleged human rights violations in Belarus since May 2020. Bachelet said the government has refused to cooperate or grant access to U.N. experts to undertake their probe, so all information has been gathered remotely. 

She called the findings very disheartening. 

“I am deeply concerned by increasingly severe restrictions on civic space and fundamental freedoms, including continuing patterns of police raids against civil society organizations and independent media, and the arrests and criminal prosecutions of human rights activists and journalists on what routinely appear to be politically motivated charges,” Bachelet said.

The report noted more than 650 people currently are imprisoned because of their opinions. Last year, it said, nearly 500 journalists and media professionals were detained, with at least 68 subjected to ill treatment. Journalist Raman Pratasevich is among 27 journalists who remain in detention. He was arrested in May after his flight from Greece to Lithuania was diverted by Belarus authorities to the capital Minsk. 

Bachelet said she is alarmed by persistent allegations of widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment of protesters who have been arbitrarily arrested. She said even children have been subjected to abuse while in detention and at least four protesters have died in police custody. 

“Gender-based violence in detention also continues to be of serious concern,” Bachelet said. “The Office has received reports of sexual violence committed by law enforcement officials, primarily, but not exclusively, against women and girls. These include reports of sexual assault, threats of sexual assault, psychological violence, and sexual harassment against both women and men.” 

Bachelet said thousands of people have fled to neighboring countries in search of asylum since the 2020 presidential election. 

Belarus Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yuri Ambrazevich, said the report is full of baseless statements and accusations. He said the experts have ignored his government’s position. 

He questions the authority of the Council to act as a court and judge his country’s actions. He said the mandate issued to the experts to examine his country’s human rights situation has no legitimacy. 

 
…

Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was awaiting a court hearing in Italy Friday following his arrest four years after fleeing Spain over an independence referendum that Madrid ruled illegal.

The member of the European Parliament, who has been based in Belgium since late 2017, was detained Thursday in the Sardinian town of Alghero while on his way to a cultural festival, aides said.

The 58-year-old is wanted by Madrid on charges of sedition for his attempts to lead a Catalan breakaway from Spain in October 2017, and Italian judges must now decide whether he should be extradited.

“It’s clear that Carles Puigdemont must be brought to justice and stand trial,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Friday, after the former Catalan leader spent the night in an Italian jail.

Puigdemont’s lawyers insist there is no basis for his arrest, however, and say they have a “very solid” legal case.

“The first thing is to resolve his personal situation which means whether he remains in custody, whether he gets bail, or whether there is any condition for his release,” Brussels-based lawyer Gonzalo Boye told AFP.

“Then at a later stage, there will be a discussion where they will enter into the grounds [for the alleged offense]” — notably whether the arrest warrant was valid.  

Calls for his release

Puigdemont’s arrest drew a sharp rebuke from the Catalan government, with leader Pere Aragones demanding his “immediate release” and saying he would travel to Sardinia to “stand by” the former regional leader.  

It also comes at a sensitive time, nine days after the left-leaning Spanish government and regional Catalan authorities resumed negotiations to find a solution to Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Ahead of Friday’s hearing, supporters gathered outside the court in Sassari, a city in the northwest of Sardinia, with one holding up a large Catalan independence flag.  

And in Catalonia’s regional capital Barcelona, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Italian consulate, some holding makeshift signs reading “Freedom” in Catalan over Puigdemont’s picture.

Others shouted “Free our president” in Italian and waved Catalan independence flags.

The October 2017 referendum was staged by Catalonia’s separatist regional government despite a ban by Madrid and the process was marred by police violence.

Several weeks later, the separatists issued a short-lived declaration of independence, triggering a huge political crisis with Spain during which Puigdemont and several others fled abroad.  

Madrid swiftly moved to prosecute those Catalan separatists that stayed behind, handing nine of them long jail terms.  

Although they were all pardoned earlier this year, Madrid still wants Puigdemont and several others to face justice over the secession bid.  

In March, the European Parliament rescinded immunity for Puigdemont and two other pro-independence MEPs, a decision that was upheld in July by the EU’s General Court.

The European Parliament’s decision is being appealed, though, and a final ruling by the EU court has yet to be made.

“Somebody misled the [EU] General Court to lift the precautionary measures,” Boye told AFP.

‘Persecution’  

Aragones, a more moderate separatist who took over as Catalan leader earlier this year, said the only solution to the region’s political crisis was “self-determination.”

“In the face of persecution and judicial repression, our strongest condemnation. It has to stop,” he wrote on Twitter.

And Quim Torra, who had taken over after Puigdemont fled, said his extradition to Spain would be “catastrophic” and urged pro-independence activists to be “on high alert.”

Meanwhile, the Catalan National Assembly, the region’s biggest grassroots separatist movement, has called people to protest over Puigdemont’s “illegal detention.”

Many rallies have been scheduled Friday night, with another major gathering planned for midday on Sunday.  

Besides Puigdemont, former Catalan regional ministers Toni Comin and Clara Ponsati also are wanted in Spain on allegations of sedition.

Madrid said it would respect the decision of the Italian courts.

“This government has respect for all judicial proceedings whether opened in Spain, in Europe or in this case in Italy, and will comply with any judicial decisions that may be taken,” Sanchez said.  

The Italian government said it would not get involved. “The procedure is entirely left to the judicial authorities,” a justice ministry statement said.
…

Britain is gradually easing COVID-19 travel restrictions among African countries on its so-called red list at highest risk of spreading coronavirus. However, South Africa remains on the list, despite a decline in infections. The status is taking a toll on South African tourism and people wanting to visit their families in Britain.

Lynne Philip hasn’t seen her son and two grandchildren, who live in England, in four years.

The 70-year-old Johannesburg resident had a flight booked to visit them last year when the pandemic struck, canceling all travel.

Now, she’s fully vaccinated with two Pfizer shots and desperate to go.

But Philip says Britain’s “red list” designation for South Africa is making it impossible.

“I can’t afford to go into quarantine there. Timewise it’s going to be a problem. It cuts too much into your travel, into your visiting time. We do speak on Zoom, but it’s not the same. I just would like to be able to see my family,” she said.

Philip is not alone. Over 29,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling on British lawmakers to ease travel restrictions for South Africans — with many describing anguish over family separation.

The UK Embassy in South Africa reiterated the decision this week, saying it remains concerned about the presence of the beta variant and “its potential ability to circumvent vaccines.”

But Dr. Michelle Groome, with South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases, says that rationale is at odds with the science.

“This doesn’t make any sense at all, because delta is now making up, I think it’s in excess of 96% of our sequences at the moment, and so beta is really not a concern at all. I don’t see that there’s any difference between us and say, Kenya or India or anyone else that has now been taken off the ‘red list.’”

Africa’s Centres for Disease Control is also calling on the United Kingdom to review its position.

The center says immunized Africans, who are receiving the same vaccines as people in Europe, should be recognized equally.

While the United States has restricted entry for South Africans, the White House announced earlier this week that it will lift that rule for those who are fully vaccinated beginning in November.

Several European countries have already made that shift.

Ina Gouws, a political scientist at the University of the Free State, says it’s hard not to read Britain’s restrictions as political.

“There is reason to think that the region is being treated differently. When there are no  clear answers based in fact, speculations start to happen, and that can be dangerous and certainly not good for diplomatic relations. The messaging is one, then, of prejudice. And it is not upon our diplomatic channels to ascertain why this is,” Gouws said.

Dr. Groome says barring vaccinated travelers also sends the wrong message to the public about the effectiveness of vaccines.

“We are trying very hard to promote vaccines in our country, and as with many countries are, you know, struggling a little bit with that faction who are hesitant to receive the vaccines. And in this case, you know, then it makes people question as to as to why, perhaps with the vaccines that we’re giving are not as good as those being used elsewhere, which is obviously not correct,” Groom said.

The economic toll of the “red list” has also been crippling because the UK is the biggest source of tourists for South Africa.

David Frost, chief executive of South Africa’s inbound tourism association, says the disappearance of British travelers is costing the country $1.7 million a day.

“We’ve got a precious conservation base, which is one of the world’s best that is under total threat, because there’s no income, there’s no money for anti-poaching activities. One in seven South Africans is putting food on the table because of tourism. And when tourism suffers, that means the people don’t eat,” Frost said.

South Africa’s international relations minister, Naledi Pandoor, has echoed those concerns and is appealing to British officials to have the decision reversed.

Frost says he hopes the added political push will pay off when the UK reviews its “red list” in coming weeks.
…

Britain is in talks with U.S. nuclear reactor company Westinghouse on building a new atomic power plant on Anglesey in Wales, the British newspaper The Times reported.

If it gets the go-ahead the new plant at Wylfa would be able to generate enough electricity to power more than 6 million homes and could be operational in the mid-2030s, The Times said.

Japan’s Hitachi Ltd scrapped plans to build a nuclear power plant at the Wylfa site a year ago after it failed to find private investors or secure sufficient government support for the project.

The decision left only the British arm of France’s EDF and China General Nuclear Power Corp building in the nuclear sector, where around half of UK plants are set to close in the next few years.

The partners are building the first UK nuclear power plant in decades at Hinckley Point in west England and are planning a second in Sizewell in east England.

Nuclear power provided around 16.8% of Britain’s electricity generation in 2019, according to National Grid, while gas was used to generate 38.4%.

The recent spike in gas prices combined with a fall in renewable generation due to low wind speeds had underlined the need for more nuclear capacity, The Times said, citing a government source.

“If our current situation shows anything it is that we need more stable home grown, low carbon generation in the UK,” the source told the newspaper. “This is an important project that we’re very keen to try and get off the ground.” 

 

 
…

Exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was arrested in Italy on Thursday, his lawyer and an aide said, four years after fleeing following an independence referendum that Madrid ruled unconstitutional.

The European MEP was expected to appear in court on Friday at a hearing that could see him extradited to Spain to face sedition charges.

The Catalan leader — who has been based in Belgium since the 2017 referendum — was detained in Alghero, Sardinia, his chief of staff, Josep Lluis Alay, wrote on Twitter.

“At his arrival at Alghero airport, he was arrested by Italian police. Tomorrow (Friday), he’ll appear before the judges of the court of appeal of Sassari, who will decide whether to let him go or extradite him,” Alay said.

Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, tweeted that the exiled separatist leader was arrested on his arrival in Italy, where he was travelling in his capacity as an MEP.

He said the arrest was made on the basis of a warrant issued in October 2019 that had since been suspended.

Puigdemont, 58, is wanted in Spain on allegations of sedition over his attempts to have the Catalan region break away from Madrid through the 2017 referendum.

His arrest comes a week after the left-leaning Spanish government and regional Catalan authorities resumed negotiations to find a solution to Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

In March, the European Parliament rescinded immunity for Puigdemont and two other pro-independent MEPs, a decision that was upheld in July by the EU’s General Court.

However, the European Parliament’s decision is under appeal and a final ruling by the EU court has yet to be made.

Following Thursday’s arrest, Madrid expressed “its respect for the decisions of the Italian authorities and courts.”

“The arrest of Mr Puigdemont corresponds to an ongoing judicial procedure that applies to any EU citizen who has to answer to the courts,” the Spanish government said in a statement.

The statement added Puigdemont should “submit to the action of justice like any other citizen.”

‘Persecution’

New Catalan president Pere Aragones — a separatist but more moderate than his predecessor — condemned what he called the “persecution” of Puigdemont.

“In the face of persecution and judicial repression, the strongest condemnation. It has to stop,” he wrote on Twitter.

He added that “self-determination” was the “only solution.”

Besides Puigdemont, former Catalan regional ministers Toni Comin and Clara Ponsati are also wanted in Spain on allegations of sedition.

The October 2017 referendum was held by Catalonia’s separatist regional leadership despite a ban by Madrid and the process was marred by police violence.

A few weeks later, the leadership made a short-lived declaration of independence, prompting Puigdemont to flee abroad.

Others who stayed in Spain were arrested and tried.

However, Puigdemont did not benefit from the pardon granted in June to nine pro-independence activists who had been imprisoned in Spain. 

 
…

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday that it would take “time” and “actions” to repair ties with the U.S. in the wake of a submarine deal that undercut a French agreement to supply Australia with diesel subs. 

Last week, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia announced a deal under which the U.K. and U.S. will instead supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. 

The move angered France, which withdrew its ambassadors from the U.S. and Australia. 

Earlier in the week, Le Drian expressed concern about what he characterized as “deceit” by one of its oldest allies. 

He told reporters at the United Nations this week that the United States had gone behind France’s back and had hidden the new deal for months. 

According to State Department spokesperson Ned Price, Le Drian and Blinken “spoke about plans for in-depth bilateral consultations on issues of strategic importance. They discussed the EU strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.” 

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone in an attempt to rebuild trust between the NATO allies. 

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
…

Belarus and Myanmar registered a significant decline in global internet freedom ratings following political turmoil in which authorities in the two countries arrested journalists and blocked access to the internet.  

 

In its annual Freedom on the Net report, the global nonprofit Freedom House found digital rights had declined globally for the 11th consecutive year, with China ranking the worst for the seventh time, and the U.S. seeing a decline for a fifth year.

 

Freedom on the Net is an annual assessment of digital rights in 70 states, with each country given a score on a 100-point scale based on factors including access, limits to content and violations of users’ rights.

 

As well as new regulations and pressure on internet companies to comply with government demands, Freedom House found an increase in the arrests of social media users.  

 

The most significant declines came in Belarus, Myanmar and Uganda, all of which experienced political unrest. While all three sought to limit access to online communication, Freedom House found that officials in Belarus and Myanmar also targeted media and online reporters.

 

Allie Funk, co-author of Freedom on the Net, told VOA that in Belarus and Myanmar, current events hastened what had been a multiyear decline for both countries.  

 

“Particularly around elections or protests — these really tense political moments — you tend to have a flashpoint for internet freedom restrictions,” said Funk, a senior research analyst at Freedom House.   

 

“Both regimes resorted to very blunt forms of censorship, so just broad-scale internet shutdowns in both countries,” she added.

 

Myanmar fell 14 points in the ratings, the largest decline Freedom House has ever recorded.   

 

The country scored 17 out of 100, categorized as “not free,” after the junta blocked social media, websites and internet access as part of the February 1 coup in which the military seized power and ousted the democratically elected government.

 

The junta initially said it was blocking Facebook temporarily to ensure stability and prevent the spread of false news after the military takeover. But Freedom House found messaging apps, other social media sites and some national media outlets were also blocked.

 

The apparent use of surveillance along with the arrests of journalists, digital activists and others for online activity were also cited in the report.   

 

Freedom House noted an increase in self-censorship and said hundreds of journalists remain in hiding to avoid arrest for their earlier coverage of anti-coup protests.

 

VOA attempted to contact Myanmar’s military for comment, but the spokesperson did not respond to the call or a request sent via messaging app.

 

Analysts and media in Myanmar told VOA the restrictions have not only curtailed reporting on the nation’s political turmoil but also have impacted daily life, from education to access to online health care during the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Myo Naying, a Myanmar-based tech expert, told VOA’s Burmese Service that the military council’s restrictions are damaging across large sectors, including e-commerce, education and health.  

 

Since the coup, many residents have relied on the internet and social media to access news, and have turned away from state-controlled media, Myo Naying said.  

 

In response, the military has tried to block access to independent news and imposed restrictions and surveillance on the internet, the tech expert said. Myo Naying added that security forces often check people’s phones and social media posts. Anyone found to be sharing posts critical of the military is arrested.  

 

As of Thursday, the Thai-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Burma, had documented 6,718 arrests or charges since the coup. 

 

Freedom House said that surveillance had increased even in the months before the coup, and that in early February, the military circulated a draft cybercrime law that would place private data under the military’s control. Since the coup, security forces have also allegedly seized phones of those arrested and extracted data.

 

A journalist in Yangon, who asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation, told VOA that the surveillance puts reporters at risk.  

 

“The internet surveillance, it made it difficult for journalists to do their work. It created risk and insecure communication through internet and social media, both for journalist and their news sources,” the journalist said.

‘Unprecedented pressure’

 

Media in Belarus have faced similar restrictions and retaliation since Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in presidential elections in August 2020, resulting in mass protests and arrests.

 

Freedom House, which examined conditions between June 2020 and May 2021, described the time frame as an “unprecedented campaign of repression against Belarusian online journalists, activists and internet users,” with more than 500 arrests.  

 

The country is categorized as “not free” with a score of 31 out of 100.

 

The digital rights group cited internet shutdowns after the election and during protests; amendments to media laws including a ban on reporting live from breaking news events and provisions that made it easier to revoke or reject accreditation; the monitoring of social media; and the diversion of a passenger jet to facilitate the arrest of Raman Pratasevich, the founder of a popular Telegram channel.  

 

The Belarusian Embassy in Washington did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.  

 

“What Myanmar and Belarus exemplify is how increased surveillance, increased censorship, increased in-person attacks are really key tactics of digital repression that are here to stay, unfortunately,” said Funk of Freedom House.

 

Natalia Belikova, the head of international projects at the media network Press Club Belarus, told VOA that “unprecedented pressure” was put on independent media last year.  

 

The result, Belikova said, is “an entirely sterile media environment where only state-authorized journalism is allowed.”

 

Nearly all print media are state-controlled and most independent media work online, Belikova said.  

 

The government blocked access to more than 50 websites and issued an order to shut down one of the country’s most popular news sites, Tut.by.

 

“State-authorized journalism means basically propaganda, which works to polarize society and to divide society into those who support the incumbent regime and those who don’t,” Belikova said.

 

The journalist said that while there is little to be optimistic about, “there’s still data that shows that independent sources of information still have a foothold on the Belarusian audience.”

 

Despite a tougher online environment, Funk said there were positive signs, because of the courage of civil society and activists, including a youth movement in Myanmar.

 

Funk said the young people are “going out on the streets and really pushing back [against] the really intense digital oppression and the really egregious violence that they’re facing. Their courage and resilience of pushing back against a brutal military is, I think, really incredible. I think there’s a really tough hill to climb.”

 

Liam Scott and VOA’s Burmese Service contributed to this report.
…

After 16 years, Germany is preparing to bid farewell to Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is stepping down after elections scheduled for Sunday. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Berlin, Merkel was Germany’s first female chancellor and its first leader to have been raised in the former East Germany.

Camera: Henry Ridgwell Produced by: Jon Spier 

 
…

Jets of red hot lava shot into the sky on Spain’s La Palma on Thursday as a huge cloud of toxic ash drifted from the Cumbre Vieja volcano toward the mainland and jeopardized the island’s economically crucial banana crops.

 

Walls of lava, which turn black when exposed to the air, have advanced slowly westward since Sunday, engulfing everything in their path, including houses, schools and some banana plantations.

 

Farmers near the town of Todoque raced to save as much as possible of their crop, piling their trucks high with sacks of the green bananas, on which many of the islanders depend for their livelihood.

 

“We’re just trying to take everything we can,” said a farmer who gave his name as Roberto from the window of his pickup.  

 

Some 15% of La Palma’s 140 million kilogram annual banana production could be at risk if farmers are unable to access plantations and tend to their crops, Sergio Caceres, manager of producer’s association Asprocan, told Reuters.

 

“There is the main tragedy of destroyed houses — many of those affected are banana producers or employees — but their livelihood is further down the hill,” he said. “Some farms have already been covered.”

 

Caceres said the farmers already were suffering losses and warned that if lava pollutes the water supply it could potentially cause problems for months to come.

 

The island produces around a quarter of the Canary Islands’ renowned bananas, which hold protected designation of origin status.

 

With more than 200 houses destroyed and thousands of evacuated people unable to return home, the Canary Islands’ regional government said it would buy two housing developments with a combined 73 properties for those made homeless. Spanish banks jointly announced they would offer vacant homes they hold across the Canaries as emergency shelter.

 

Property portal Idealista estimated the volcano had so far destroyed property worth about 87 million euros ($102 million). Experts had originally predicted the lava would hit the Atlantic Ocean late Monday, but its descent has slowed to a glacial pace of around 4 meters per hour and authorities say it may stop before reaching the sea.

 

Volcanologists have said gases from the eruption are not harmful to health. But a plume of thick cloud now extends some 4.2 kilometers (2.6 miles) into the air, raising concerns of visibility for flights. The airport remains open, but authorities have created two exclusion zones where only authorized aircraft can fly.  

 

Prevailing winds are expected to propel the cloud northeast over the rest of the Canary archipelago, the Iberian peninsula and the Mediterranean, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.

 

National weather service AEMET said air quality had not been affected at surface level and ruled out acid rain falling over the mainland or the Balearic Islands and was even unlikely in the Canary islands.

 

Local authorities have warned people to clean food and clothes to avoid ingesting the toxic ash.
…

Europe is being buffeted by unprecedented recovery-related energy price spikes, prompting rising alarm about whether families will be able to remain warm as the northern hemisphere’s winter approaches.

Politicians are also anxious about the electoral repercussions and how spiking prices will fuel further inflation.

The price jumps in natural gas are due largely to a surge in demand in Asia and low supplies of in Europe, which has seen an astonishing 280% increase in wholesale gas prices. Electricity prices are also soaring because natural gas is used across the continent to generate a substantial percentage of its electricity.

Moscow’s decision to refrain from boosting natural gas shipments via Ukrainian pipelines is worsening the crunch and adding to claims that Russia is using the energy needs of its European neighbors to hold them to ransom.

Some European politicians are accusing the Kremlin of deliberately worsening Europe’s energy crisis as a tactic to pressure the European Union into speeding up certification of the just completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine and runs from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

The International Energy Agency has called on Russia to boost gas exports. “The IEA believes that Russia could do more to increase gas availability to Europe and ensure storage is filled to adequate levels in preparation for the coming winter heating season,” it said in a statement.

U.S. officials have also called on Moscow to increase gas exports. “The reality is there are pipelines with enough capacity through Ukraine to supply Europe. Russia has consistently said it has enough gas supply to be able to do so, so if that is true, then they should, and they should do it quickly through Ukraine,” Amos Hochstein, senior adviser for energy security at the US Department of State, told Bloomberg TV this week.

 

Europe scrambles 

Some members of the European Parliament want the European Commission to investigate Russia’s majority state-owned energy company Gazprom. “We call on the European Commission to urgently open an investigation into possible deliberate market manipulation by Gazprom and potential violation of EU competition rules,” a group of lawmakers said in a letter.

Moscow aside, Europe would still be faced with an energy price crunch, one that has raised the specter of factories and businesses having to reduce production and prompting warnings of food shortages.

In Britain, ministers have been holding emergency talks with industry representatives about surging wholesale gas and electricity prices, which have been blamed on higher global demand, maintenance issues and lower than expected solar and wind energy output.

Seven British natural gas suppliers have gone bust in the past six weeks, a consequence of wholesale gas prices surging by more than 70% in August alone. There are fears another three suppliers may declare bankruptcy. Suppliers are unable to pass on to customers the full increases because of government-imposed price caps on what consumers can be charged.

Nonetheless, British consumers will face price hikes this winter running into several hundreds of dollars per household. British officials are considering offering some of Britain’s biggest energy retail companies state-backed loans to help them ride out the price tempest.

But there is a reluctance to use taxpayers’ money, and midweek, Britain’s business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, told a parliamentary panel that the energy industry must first “look to itself” for solutions.

Few observers believe Boris Johnson’s ruling Conservative government will stay its hand. It has already intervened and extended emergency state support to avert a shortage of poultry and meat triggered by the soaring gas prices. This week ministers agreed to subsidize a major US company, CF Industries, paying it to reopen one of its two fertilizer plants in Britain which also produce as a byproduct carbon dioxide, vital for the country’s food industry.

CF Industries closed both plants, which supply 60% of the CO2 needed to stun animals for slaughter and used to extend the shelf life of packaged fresh, chilled and baked goods. It is also used to produce carbonated drinks and to keep stored beer fresh. The closure of the plants prompted dire warnings from Britain’s supermarkets of looming shortages.

Even with the emergency intervention running into hundreds of millions of dollars of public money, British ministers warned Wednesday that food producers need to prepare themselves for a 400% rise in carbon dioxide pricing.

 

State intervention

Other European governments are also considering how to intervene in energy markets to keep homes warm and lit, and factories running through the winter. They also fear domestic political fallout from sharp jumps in household costs and are considering billions of dollars in aid. EU energy ministers will meet this week to discuss national responses amid concerns that the energy crisis will severely disrupt the bloc’s post-pandemic recovery.

In Spain and Portugal, average wholesale electricity prices are triple the level of half a year ago at $206 per megawatt-hour. Spain’s government plans to cut taxes on utility bills.

 

Norway this week offered some relief by announcing that its state-owned energy company will boost the production of natural gas from two North Sea fields.

In Italy, ministers have warned of electricity prices jumping by 40% in the final quarter of 2021 and – like their southern European neighbors – are drafting emergency plans to soften the price blow for consumers. Some officials say $5.27 billion is being earmarked to support households with their costs, on top of a $1.17 billion the government has already spent to cushion consumers and businesses from the rising costs of energy imports. Italy imports two-thirds of its energy needs.

Last week, ecological transition minister Roberto Cingolani prompted an outcry from climate action groups when he said carbon taxes have contributed to the higher energy costs for households and businesses. Carbon pricing and taxes are employed to try to dis-incentivize the use of fossil fuels. Faced with rising criticism, Cingolani later stressed the need to “accelerate with the installation of renewables, so that we unhook ourselves as soon as possible from the cost of gas.”

Information from Reuters and Ansa was used in this report
…

The top U.S. military officers from the United States and Russia held six hours of talks in Helsinki, Finland, on Wednesday, the first face-to-face meeting between them since 2019, as both nations adjust to the U.S. pullout and Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. 

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, do not typically disclose the details of their discussions, and statements from both sides were minimal. 

A U.S. military statement, which included details on the length of the meeting but not the agenda, said the talks were aimed at “risk reduction and operational de-confliction.” 

Russia’s RIA news agency reported that the talks were aimed at discussions on risk mitigation. 

The United States and Russia often have competing military interests around the world, including in countries such as Syria, where U.S. and Russian forces have operated in close proximity. How Washington and Moscow navigate next steps in Afghanistan remains to be seen. 

The U.S. military is under pressure from Congress to shore up a counterterrorism strategy to address risks from Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal and Taliban takeover in August. 

President Joe Biden’s administration has said it would rely on “over-the-horizon” operations that could strike groups such as al-Qaida or Islamic State in Afghanistan if they threaten the United States. 

But, with no troops on the ground, the extent of Washington’s ability to detect and halt plots is unclear. After 20 years of war, U.S. military officials also have a dim view of the Taliban and note its ties to al-Qaida. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow needs to work with the Taliban government and that world powers should consider unfreezing Afghanistan’s assets. 

 
…

Lava continued to bear down Wednesday on La Palma, one of the Spanish Canary Islands, as residents fled following Sunday’s volcanic eruption. 

More than 6,800 people have been evacuated from the island, one of the archipelago’s smaller and least populated, since Sunday. 

The Associated Press reported that lava has engulfed and destroyed 320 buildings so far.

No fatalities or injuries have yet to be reported. 

A wall of lava as high as 12 meters faced a village on La Palma on Wednesday, and experts predicted that it would continue to spread for the next few days, destroying homes and crops. 

The eruption, the first on the Canary Islands in 50 years, sent lava and smoke spewing into the air as the lava flowed toward the sea. 

In the hours before the eruption, a large increase in seismic activity around the volcano was reported. 

Authorities say the eruption would likely continue for several days. Given the uncertainty about which direction the lava will flow, people with mobility issues have been evacuated from several coastal towns. 

Airspace around the Canaries remains open.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delayed his trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York and instead visited the affected area Monday. Speaking from New York on Wednesday, Sanchez said he felt confident about the island’s reconstruction. 

 
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol as part of his brief stop in Washington. Johnson met earlier in the day with U.S. senators. 

 

Johson met Tuesday with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House as part of a brief stop in Washington on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York. 

 

During a photo opportunity with reporters, Pelosi remarked that she had met with Johnson last week when she was in London for the G-7 summit of parliamentary leaders. She credited the British leader for hosting the upcoming climate summit in Glasglow, Scotland, November 1-12 and said they intended to discuss joint efforts on fighting terrorism and ending the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

Johnson told reporters it was very important for him to go to Pelosi’s office, because all his life, he felt the United States and Capitol Hill stood for all the ideals of democracy and “the principle that the people should choose their government, and the people alone should choose their government.” He told Pelosi the U.S. can count on his support and the support of Britain in upholding that principle. 

 

During her visit to London last week, Pelosi indicated that nullifying the Northern Ireland peace agreement — known as the Good Friday Accords — would likely undermine negotiations for a post-Brexit bilateral trade agreement with the United States.

 

Johnson’s government is seeking to at least renegotiate part of the agreement. The two leaders made no public mention of that potential disagreement. 

 

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.

 
…

U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to meet in person next month in Europe after a Wednesday phone call in which they sought to ease tensions over a high-profile submarine deal. 

A White House statement after the phone call suggested regret over the handling of the deal, in which the United States and Britain will sell at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. That prompted Canberra to abandon a $66 billion, 2016 contract to purchase 12 conventional diesel-electric subs from French majority state-owned Naval Group. 

“The two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners,” the White House statement said. 

“President Biden conveyed his ongoing commitment in that regard,” it said. 

The two presidents will meet at the end of October, with both scheduled to attend the Group of 20 summit in Rome at that time. 

“The two leaders have decided to open a process of in-depth consultations, aimed at creating the conditions for ensuring confidence and proposing concrete measures toward common objectives,” the White House said. The statement did not elaborate. 

Macron called France’s ambassador to Washington, Philippe Etienne, back to Paris after the Australian submarine deal was announced. But the White House said Macron has decided that Etienne would return next week and “then start intensive work with senior U.S. officials.” 

France was upset by the loss of the Australian submarine deal, but French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed deeper concern over what he characterized as “deceit” by one of its oldest allies. 

Le Drian told reporters at the United Nations this week that the United States went behind France’s back and hid the new deal for months. 

Australia has sought to augment its naval weaponry to counter China’s military buildup in the Indo-Pacific region. 

“President Biden reaffirms the strategic importance of French and European engagement in the Indo-Pacific region,” the White House statement said. “The United States also recognizes the importance of a stronger and more capable European defense, that contributes positively to transatlantic and global security and is complementary to NATO.” 

 
…

Angela Merkel, Germany’s first female chancellor, has been praised by many for her pragmatic leadership in a turbulent world and celebrated by some as a feminist icon. But a look at her track record over her 16 years at Germany’s helm reveals missed opportunities for fighting gender inequality at home.

 

Named “The World’s Most Powerful Woman” by Forbes magazine for the past 10 years in a row, Merkel has been cast as a powerful defender of liberal values in the West. She has easily stood her ground at male-dominated summits with leaders such as former U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

 

Millions of women admire the 67-year-old for breaking through the glass ceiling of male dominance in politics, and she’s been lauded as an impressive role model for girls.

 

On trips to Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Merkel has often made a point of visiting women’s rights projects. She has always stressed that giving women in poor countries better access to education and work is key to those nations’ development.

 

But when it comes to the situation of women in Germany, Merkel — who said in 2018 that she wouldn’t seek reelection in this Sunday’s general election — has been criticized for not using her position enough to push for more gender equality.

 

“One thing is clear: a woman has demonstrated that women can do it,” said Alice Schwarzer, Germany’s most famous feminist. “However, one female chancellor alone doesn’t make for emancipation.”  

 

Schwarzer, the 78-year-old women’s rights activist, is the most prominent founding member of the German women’s liberation movement, both loved and loathed in the country.

 

“She’s the first one who made it all the way to the top,” added Schwarzer, who has met Merkel for several one-on-one dinners over the years. “But has she done anything for women’s policy aside from her sheer presence? Honestly, not a lot.”

 

German women have even seen some setbacks during Merkel’s reign. Before Merkel took office in 2005, 23% of federal lawmakers for her center-right Union bloc were women. Today, the figure is 19.9%. Only the far-right Alternative for Germany party, with 10.9%, has fewer female lawmakers.

 

Germany also lags behind other European countries when it comes to equal political representation.

 

In 2020, the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments and governments was 31.4% in Germany, well below Sweden’s 49.6%, Belgium’s 43.3% or Spain’s 42.2%, according to the European Union statistics agency Eurostat.

 

Women also remain second-class citizens in Germany’s working world. Last year, only 14.6% of top-level managers in big listed German companies were women. Germany also has one of the biggest gender pay gaps in the EU, with women earning 18% less than men in 2020, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

 

Some experts say Merkel has pressed for more power for women in indirect ways.

“Angela Merkel did not take up her job with the claim to use her role as chancellor for the support of women or making gender equality her vested interest,” said Julia Reuschenbach, a political analyst at the University of Bonn. “However, she did very much engage in promoting other women in politics.”

Ursula von der Leyen, a Merkel Cabinet stalwart, became the European Commission’s first female president in 2019. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer succeeded Merkel as leader of her Christian Democratic Union in 2018, though she failed to impose her authority on the party and stepped down earlier this year.

 

In 2007, von der Leyen, who was then family minister in Merkel’s Cabinet, pushed through a progressive reform of the country’s child-raising allowance that encouraged fathers to take some parental leave after the birth of a child. However, it was one of few legal changes during the chancellor’s tenure that actively sought to improve the situation of women.

 

One reason for Merkel’s reluctance to fight more openly for feminist issues in Germany may be her own struggle to get to the top of German politics, Schwarzer said.

 

“Merkel got a lot of pushback as a woman,” especially early in her political career, she said. “She didn’t expect that, so that may be a reason she didn’t pick out the fact that she is a woman as her central topic.”

 

Influential men in her conservative, traditionally West German and Catholic-dominated party didn’t exactly welcome the Protestant former East German physicist with open arms, and male politicians from other parties initially did not treat her respectfully, Schwarzer said.

 

German journalists’ comments on Merkel’s appearance were often openly sexist, particularly in the beginning. German media first dubbed her “Kohl’s girl,” because Merkel was initially promoted by then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and later called her “Mutti,” or “mommy,” even though Merkel has no children.

 

Leonie Pouw, a 24-year-old election campaign manager in Berlin, was 8 years old when Merkel came to power, so she says it was the most normal thing for her to have a female chancellor.

 

“It was only in school, when I started to have political awareness, that I realized how much it meant, especially for the older generation, that a woman is leading Germany,” said Pouw, who grew up in southwestern Germany. “When I understood that, it made me proud, too.”

 

Nonetheless, Pouw thinks that Merkel could have done more for women’s rights and noted that none of Merkel’s Cabinets throughout her four terms achieved gender parity.

“I wish that in the future there will be as many women as men representing us,” Pouw said.  

 

When Merkel herself was asked in 2017 whether she was a feminist, she answered evasively, saying: “I don’t want to embellish myself with a title I don’t have.”

 

Only in the last few years did Merkel take up the topic proactively and speak out for more gender equality in Germany. In 2018, as Germany marked the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, she said in a speech in Berlin to the loud applause of mostly female listeners that there was a lot still to do to achieve gender equality.

 

“The goal needs to be equality, equality everywhere,” she said. “I hope it becomes natural for women and men to split up work, raising the children and doing the household equally … and I hope it’s not going to take another 100 years to get there.”

 

Merkel has talked little about her experiences of discrimination or her personal life and her husband, quantum chemist Joachim Sauer, has kept a low public profile.

 

In the past few weeks, Merkel took a noteworthy step in further embracing women’s rights, declaring at a discussion with women in Duesseldorf: “I’m a feminist.”

 

“Yes, we should all be feminists,” she added.
…

Gunmen opened fire Wednesday on a car carrying a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to national police. 

Zelenskiy, who is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, said in a video statement there would be a “strong response” to what a senior official described as an assassination attempt on presidential advisor Serguiï Shefir.

While the official said the attack might have been a message intended for Zelenskiy, another presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, said it was in response to an effort to limit the influence of oligarchs.

Zelenskiy won the presidency after vowing to confront the country’s oligarchs and fight corruption.

“This does not affect the course that I have chosen with my team, towards changes, towards de-shadowing our economy, towards fighting criminals and large, influential financial groups,” Zelenskiy said.

A prosecutor said the car had been hit 18 times, wounding the driver but leaving Shefir unharmed.

“I have not conducted any cases that would have caused aggression. I think this is intimidation,” Shefir said at a joint news briefing with police and Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky.

“I think this won’t frighten the president,” he added.

Police said no arrests have been made but that they had launched a criminal investigation on suspicion of premeditated murder.

Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Malawi President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera are among the world leaders scheduled to take their turn to address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday. 

Johnson has highlighted in the days before his speech the need to take action to address climate change, saying a global economic recovery “must be rooted in green growth.” 

Rich nations have benefitted from growth that resulted in pollution, and now “have a duty to help developing countries grow their economies in a green and sustainable way,” Johnson said in a Twitter post Monday.

Johnson’s address comes a day after he met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. 

Combatting climate change was among the topics of discussion in separate meetings U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held Tuesday with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez ahead of their addresses to the General Assembly on Wednesday. 

Other speakers Wednesday include Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio and Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg. 

After the coronavirus pandemic kept heads of state from attending last year’s General Assembly meetings, about 100 are attending this year’s session in New York. Others are choosing to stay home and deliver their remarks via a recording. 

Those giving pre-recorded addresses Wednesday include Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. 
…