A fire swept through a Haitian children’s home run by a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit group, killing 13 children, health care workers said Friday.
Rose-Marie Louis, a child-care worker at the home, told The Associated Press that she saw 13 children’s bodies being carried out of the Orphanage of the Church of Bible Understanding in the Kenscoff area outside Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.
Marie-Sonia Chery, a nurse at the nearby Baptist Mission Hospital, confirmed that 13 boys and girls had died.
Louis, who worked at the home, said the fire began around 9 p.m. Thursday and firefighters took about 1.5 hours to arrive. The orphanage had been using candles for light due to problems with its generator and inverter, she said.
About half of those who died were babies or toddlers and the others were roughly 10 or 11 years old, Louis said.
Catiana Joseph, a doctor at the Baptist hospital, gave a different account, saying the victims were between three and 18 years old. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy.
Rescue workers arrived at the scene on motorcycles and didn’t have bottled oxygen or the ambulances needed to transport the children to the hospital, said Jean-Francois Robenty, a civil protection official.
“They could have been saved,” he said. ”We didn’t have the equipment to save their lives.”
Robenty said officials believed other children’s bodies remained inside and emergency workers were trying to pull them out on Friday.
Orphanage workers on the scene said they believed two bodies were still inside.
The Associated Press has reported on a long-standing series of problems at two children’s homes run by the Church of Bible Understanding.
The Church of Bible Understanding lost accreditation for its homes after a series of inspections beginning in November 2012. Haitian inspectors faulted the group for overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and not having enough adequately trained staff.
Members of the religious group were selling expensive antiques at high-end stores in New York and Los Angeles and using a portion of the profits to fund the homes.
The Associated Press made an unannounced visit to the group’s two homes, holding a total of 120 kids, in 2013 and found bunk beds with faded and worn mattresses crowded into dirty rooms. Sour air wafted through the bathrooms and stairwells. Rooms were dark and spartan, lacking comforts or decoration.
The Church of Bible Understanding, based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, operates two homes for nearly 200 children in Haiti as part of a “Christian training program,” according to its most recent nonprofit organization filing. It has operated in the country since 1977. It identifies the homes as orphanages but it is common in Haiti for impoverished parents to place children in residential care centers, where they receive lodging and widely varying education for several years but are not technically orphans.
“We take in children who are in desperate situations,” the organization says in its tax filing for 2017, the most recent year available. “Many of them were very close to death when we took them in.” The nonprofit reported revenue of $6.6 million and expenses of $2.2 million for the year.
A member of the organization who identified himself only as “Jim” on a phone call referred questions on the fire to their lawyer in Haiti, whom he would not identify.         
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Jewish leaders called Friday for better policing of hate speech on social media platforms over concerns prompted by recent attacks that people on the margins of society are being incited online to violence.Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis and chief rabbi of Moscow, said online radicalization was giving rise not only to more anti-Semitic incidents, but also hate crimes directed at Muslims and others.“The strength and power given by social media to people on the margins of society is causing chaos,” he said, citing attacks in New Zealand, Germany and the United States.“Last year, 2019, there were quite a few attacks against houses of worship — mosques, synagogues and churches.”The event, sponsored by Goldschmidt’s organization and the World Jewish Congress, came on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, which was being attended by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, though he was not present for the discussion.Goldschmidt said that with legal protections for free speech, it was hard for governments to police hate speech effectively, but that private companies had more flexibility.“A private company that gives a platform, whether it’s a theater or a Facebook page, definitely has the ability and the right to limit speech,” he said.Michel Friedman, a prominent German Jewish leader, said, however, that governments could do more if they made the issue a priority, saying that authorities have been effectively combating online financial crimes.“If we are able when it’s about the economy to react very quickly on cyber crime, why not hate crime?” he said.But regulating what can and can’t be said is a thorny issue, said Alex Samos, former chief security officer of Facebook.“Discussions about what is lawful or not lawful speech are extremely complicated,” he said.He noted that there are many different layers to Facebook — private pages, public groups, private groups and the person-to-person Messenger application which, to monitor, would be akin to listening in on private phone calls.“I don’t think that anybody here would say that Deutsche Telekom should listen in to every phone call in Germany, and if you say something racist someone pops in and tells you you’re wrong,” he said.He also stressed that social media had given voice to far more than just hate speech, saying that the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements in the U.S. were able to address long-standing issues of racism and sexual harassment and sexual assault only because a broader group of people were able to speak out.“Those two problems existed 30 years ago, the difference is that the people who decided what political topics were acceptable in the United States were 40 middle-aged white men,” he said.“People love to focus on the negative impact of new things, but there’s a huge amount of positive impact from allowing a much broader set of people to speak in a democracy.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled a plan to protect glaciers and biodiversity in the French mountains. During a visit to the Alpine resort town of Chamonix on Thursday, Macron spoke of the importance of fighting climate change and preserving biodiversity to mark the launch of the French biodiversity office. He also visited a shrinking glacier above Chamonix to draw attention to the effects of global warming. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Macron’s action came a day after the European Space Agency published satellite images of a large iceberg that broke off from a glacier in the Antarctica.
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The United States is trying to ease concerns about its decision to withdraw conventional troops from Africa and replace them with specialized military trainers.Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday the move will leave “roughly the same number of troops on the continent,” while giving U.S. commanders the capability to bolster partner forces.Speaking with reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, Esper said the move to swap out combat troops for trainers is based on observations by U.S. Africa Command Commander, General Stephen Townsend.“He [Townsend] thinks it’s a better fit than what we currently do,” Esper said. “The SFABs (Security Force Assistance Brigades) are specifically designed to do that train-and-assist mission, which we know partner countries there want.”The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it would start bringing home members of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division in the coming weeks, the first of many moves expected to impact the 6,000 U.S. troops currently in Africa.”It frees up, collectively, to train, over 4,000 troops” for great power competition missions, per @EsperDoD to reporters on decision to pull combat troops from Africa & replace them w/military trainers— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 13, 2020Officials have yet to announce how many conventional forces will be leaving, but Esper said Thursday they will be replaced by roughly a couple of hundred forces from the Army’s 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade.The brigade has previous experience working with the Afghan military and building relationships there, something that defense officials hope will pay off as they begin their missions in Africa.”We have some spotlight countries, as we call them, where we either want to build or sustain important relationships,” Esper said.Still, there are questions about how successful the trainers can be, stemming in part from their experience in Afghanistan.”The U.S. Army continues to struggle with staffing these units with the required number of skilled personnel, and with keeping personnel assigned to these units long enough to create enduring partnerships with a foreign force,” the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in a June 2019 report.The report also warned, “there still is not enough theater-specific training focused on the host nation’s security institutions, systems, processes and weapons.”Defense officials say they are aware of the criticisms but note that some of the concerns, like the turnover rate, apply equally to conventional forces like the ones currently in Africa. They also say the trainers will be better positioned to respond to the needs of individual partner nations.U.S. military officials also contend that American military training available through the Security Force Assistance Brigade will continue to be superior to anything offered by Russia or China, especially in the fight against terrorist groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State.”China and Russia do very little to help Africans combat the brutal terrorist networks plaguing them,” Africa Command’s General Stephen Townsend said in a statement Thursday, following talks in Kenya and Somalia.”U.S. training, equipment and advice directly support our African partners,” he added.  But despite what Townsend and others view as a growing terror threat, Esper on Thursday ruled out sending more U.S. forces, particularly to West Africa and the Sahel.”The Sahel is principally a CT [counterterror] mission,” Esper said. “I’m not looking to put more troops in that fight.”In West #Africa, “I’m not looking to put more troops in that fight. The French are” per @EsperDoD “They [#France] are asking the European partners to provide more help””What I’m looking to do to deal w/CT [counterterrorism] threats that threaten the [US] homeland” per Esper— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 13, 2020 #alShabaab? @CarlaBabbVOA: “Al Shabaab has been identified by AFRICOM officials as one that wants to attack the homeland…”@EsperDoD: “I’m not sure where you got that information… I’ve not seen a final assessment on that”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) February 13, 2020″The French are,” he said, adding that both France and the U.S. are urging European nations to do more.During a visit to the Pentagon last month, French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that while she understood the U.S. need to reposition troops away from the region, some U.S. capabilities, such as intelligence and surveillance, were irreplaceable.Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. 
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Spanish opposition parties are calling for an investigation of a mysterious midnight meeting between Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and a senior Spanish cabinet official in Madrid’s airport last month, arguing that the session undercut Europe-wide sanctions against the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro.Lawmakers demanded at a stormy parliamentary session Wednesday that Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos explain what was discussed at the meeting with Rodriguez, who along with 24 other Venezuelan officials is barred from entering the European Union.Abalos acknowledges that he arranged the brief stopover for Rodriguez when her aircraft landed in Spain on its way to Turkey on Jan. 20. The government argues that it seeks to negotiate democratic elections in Venezuela and that transit lounge meeting was designed to avoid a diplomatic incident.“I achieved not creating a problem in the diplomatic sphere with a government with which we want to have elections without coups,” said Abalos, echoing Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s repeated calls for elections in Venezuela “as soon as possible.”EU sanctions violatedHowever, Eliot Abrams, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy for Venezuela, told the Spanish newspaper ABC that the meeting did violate the EU sanctions, which bar leading Venezuelan officials from entering EU territory including its air space. He called for the Spanish media and Congress to investigate the Madrid stopover.Since word of the airport meeting was first leaked to the media by sources in the Spanish police, Abalos has offered shifting explanations of the encounter. After first saying that the meeting consisted of only a casual greeting, he later admitted they had talked for 20 minutes on board her airplane.Second meeting heldSpanish news outlets have since reported that Abados and Rodriguez held a second meeting for an hour in the airport’s VIP lounge.The incident has heightened suspicion among Spain’s conservative opposition that the Socialist-led government is backing away from its previous support for Venezuela’s democratic opposition.Sanchez was among the first European leaders to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela, but he has since formed a new coalition that relies on the support of the far-left Podemos party, which has longstanding ties to Maduro.Sanchez notably failed to meet with Guaido during a tour of Europe last month by the Venezuelan National Assembly president, who is recognized as interim president by the United States and more than 60 other countries. Guaido did secure meetings with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and other nations.’Motives’ questionedThe apparent snub, which was blamed on a scheduling conflict, prompted a subtle rebuke from the United States. “We don’t know the motives of [Prime Minister] Sanchez, but urge chiefs of government to meet with the interim president to know firsthand what happens on the ground,” said Carrie Filipetti, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of State for Cuba and Venezuela.Despite that concern, U.S. President Donald Trump praised the “close friendship and shared history” between the United States and Spain this week in announcing a coming state visit to Washington by Spain’s King Felipe and his wife.
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Italy’s far-right leader, Matteo Salvini, Thursday defended his position not to allow more than 100 migrants, who had been rescued at sea, to disembark from a coast guard vessel for six days last July. He said it was a shared decision with other members in the government.
Salvini, who was interior minister and deputy prime minister at the time, added that it was his duty to defend his nation as a citizen and even more so as a minister.He said he does not think he will be found guilty in a trial.The far-right leader was speaking one day after the Senate voted to lift his immunity from prosecution that had until now shielded him as a former Cabinet minister from being sent to trial. Now magistrates in Sicily will be able to press charges against him for abuse of power and kidnapping.It is not clear when such a trial will begin but should Salvini be convicted, he could face a sentence of six months to 15 years in prison. He could also be barred from holding public office.Salvini continues to promise he will return to power and says he believes in the impartiality of the judiciary.
Some Italians are voicing skepticism about the consequences of the vote now that the Senate has acted. Many say they doubt anything will occur because they think the judicial system moves very slowly.  
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The career U.S. diplomat who was ousted from her post in Ukraine by President Donald Trump, then was criticized by him as she testified at his impeachment hearings, warned that the State Department is facing a crisis with senior leaders who lack “vision.”
Marie Yovanovitch, accepting an award at Georgetown University on Wednesday, portrayed the department as “in trouble” and under threat even as she sought to encourage her audience of mostly students not to give up on diplomacy as a career.
Yovanovitch urged students to follow in her footsteps because the U.S. “needs diplomats that are ready and capable.”
“This country needs a robust foreign policy,” Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, said as she accepted the Trainor Award for excellence in diplomacy from the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University.
But she noted that the State Department is being “hollowed out” under Trump and that the art of diplomacy has become less of a priority under his administration.
“Right now, the State Department is in trouble,” Yovanovitch said in accepting the award. “Senior leaders lack policy vision, moral clarity and leadership.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been criticized by former diplomats and others for not coming to the defense of Yovanovitch, a charge he has denied.
Yovanovitch praised the “quiet work of diplomacy” as a way to ensure peace and prosperity in the world.
“It sounds so old-fashioned in our high-tech world, but diplomacy is about human interaction, and creating relationships of trust is more important than ever,” she said. “It’s not as exciting as sending in the Marines, but it’s cheaper and usually more effective in the long term.”
The award, named for Raymond “Jit” Trainor, a former official at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, is presented annually to “an outstanding practitioner” of diplomacy. Recipients have included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Thomas Pickering, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Yovanovitch showed courage not just at diplomatic posts in Russia and elsewhere but in her willingness to testify before Congress, when she was publicly denounced on Twitter by Trump.
“She has, in every sense of the word, acted in the highest tradition of those who serve our country,” said Pickering, himself a recipient of the Trainor Award.
Yovanovitch was making her first public appearance since her testimony to Congress about her efforts to press the government of Ukraine to address longstanding U.S. policy concerns about corruption. At that time a back-channel effort led by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani sought to push the government of the eastern European nation to dig up political dirt to help Trump’s reelection.
Giuliani was part of a campaign that led the Republican president to order Yovanovitch’s removal from her post ahead of schedule last spring. Trump appeared to threaten her, saying she “would go through some things,” in a July phone call with the leader of Ukraine that was at the center of the impeachment case against Trump.
Yovanovitch made light of the call during the Georgetown ceremony in one of her few direct references to impeachment. “When you go through some things,” she said, drawing laughter, “to fall back on cliche you have to dig deep a little bit.”
She did not address the back-channel efforts explicitly but warned about the state of diplomacy more broadly at a time when authoritarianism seems to be on the rise.
“To be blunt, an amoral, keep ’em guessing foreign policy that substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust cannot work over the long haul,” she said.
Yovanovitch, who was removed from her post in May 2019 with no public explanation, described to Congress a “concerted campaign” against her based on “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”
Trump publicly criticized her as she testified, saying on Twitter that “everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.” Yet, in a nearly 34-year career at the State Department, she received a series of promotions under both Republican and Democratic administrations, with positions that included ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Pentagon chief Mark Esper will join hundreds of global leaders in Germany Friday for the three-day Munich Security Conference.Numerous security flashpoints around the world, from Syria, Yemen and Iran to Hong Kong, Ukraine and Libya, add to the growing tension and unease ahead of the summit, which takes place against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak and a global climate emergency.The United States’ large delegation is a sign that the Washington wants to counter accusations that it is disengaging, says analyst Elisabeth Braw of Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, who is attending the annual Munich conference.”As we speak actually the U.S. is beginning its largest military exercise in Europe in a quarter of a century,” noted Braw in an interview with VOA. “And that’s worth remembering when we talk about the U.S. disconnecting or disengaging from Europe.”US-Iran tensionsWashington’s biggest showdown in Munich is likely to be with Iran, which is sending Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif to the summit. He and several other world leaders and government ministers will be given around 15 minutes to address the conference, before question and answer sessions. Several bilateral meetings usually take place on the sidelines of the conference, which is seen as a key annual event to sustain dialogue between global strategic rivals.The U.S. killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike earlier this year.  Retaliatory air strikes by Iran on U.S. bases culminated in the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian Airlines passenger jet, killing all 176 people on board.Conference host, former German Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, hopes the conference will offer a lifeline for the Iran nuclear deal that the U.S. withdrew from, with Europe at the forefront of negotiations.FILE – Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference is seen during his closing speech at last year’s Munich Security Conference, in Munich, southern Germany, Feb. 17, 2019.”To stick to it and to expand on it through negotiations on ballistic systems, regional security architecture, the fight against terrorism. Could Iran stop supporting Hezbollah?” Ischinger suggested at a press conference Wednesday ahead of the conference.The killing of Soleimani on Iraqi soil triggered a backlash from Baghdad, and a non-binding vote in the Iraqi parliament to expel the five-thousand U.S. troops in the country.NATO is discussing taking over the training mission for Iraqi forces battling Islamic State – a proposal welcomed by U.S. Secretary of Defense Esper, who spoke to reporters en route to Europe.”To the degree that NATO can offset the U.S. presence, that would over time allow us to bring some forces home,” Esper said.Meanwhile the conflict in Syria continues to destabilize the Middle East region, with Ankara warning of revenge against Damascus for the deaths of Turkish soldiers in clashes this week.The escalating war in Libya is also top of the European agenda, with fears growing of a proxy war as global powers back rival sides in the conflict. The EU fears a spike in migrant arrivals across the Mediterranean. Europe is also pushing for the climate change to top the security agenda at the meeting.There is hope that peace talks may be progressing in Afghanistan, with reports the U.S. and the Taliban could be close to a deal.FILE – Participants are seen during a podium discussion at last year’s Munich Security Conference, in Munich, southern Germany, Feb. 17, 2019.Coronavirus fearsChina’s foreign minister Wang Yi will attend the conference against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and U.S.-led efforts to halt the rise of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei.The director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, will update the conference on the global fight against the spread of the coronavirus, which has been officially named as ‘COVID-19’. The WHO recently warned that the global threat from the virus could exceed that of terrorism.Meanwhile Russia’s support for rebel forces in eastern Ukraine continues to stoke tensions with Europe. France recently called for re-engagement with Moscow, and President Emmanuel Macron will attend the Munich Security Conference for the first time. His message will not be universally welcomed, says analyst Braw.”Many central and eastern Europeans would be very concerned if other European countries and the U.S. made overtures towards Russia.”Moscow will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.As global tensions soar, leaders from across the world will be confined to the historic Bayerischer Hof hotel in central Munich, for three days of what will likely be fiery talks.
 
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British Finance Minister Sajid Javid announced his resignation Thursday, a development that came unexpectedly as Prime Minister Boris Johnson reorganizes his Cabinet.Javid’s resignation followed reports of tensions between him and Johnson’s top advisor, Dominic Cummings.His announcement came less than one month before he was scheduled to unveil his first budget and as the government tries to negotiate a new relationship with the European Union by the end of the year.The 50-year-old Javid is a former banker who transitioned into politics, serving first as interior minister.Javid said in his first speech before parliament his experience as a banker prepared him to be a politician because both professions are disliked by the public. 
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France marks the 60th anniversary of nuclear weapons tests that turned it into one of the world’s first nuclear powers.  That was at the height of the Cold War.  But critics claim more than three decades of testing — first in Algeria and later French Polynesia — left many scars, including victims who remain uncompensated. On February 13, 1960, France conducted its first nuclear test in Algeria’s southern Sahara desert. “Hurray for France,” then-French President Charles de Gaulle wrote at the time.  But Jean-Claude Hervieux has other memories. He joined the French testing efforts in Algeria as an electrician. He recalls another nuclear test, in 1962, which didn’t go according to plan.  Radioactive dust and rock escaped from underground. Hervieux and others witnessing the testing ran for cover. Two French ministers were among them. The group showered in military barracks to decontaminate. He laughs because it wasn’t often French ministers are seen in the buff.  A danger sign is seen at a French nuclear test site in In-Ekker, near Ain Meguel in southern Algeria, Feb. 25, 2010.France ended up conducting more than 200 nuclear tests until a later president, Jacques Chirac, ended them in 1996. Most took place in French Polynesia. But 17 took place in Algeria between 1960 and 1966, ending four years after Algeria’s independence from France. “It’s part of the whole issue of decolonization and Algerians in general asking for recognition of colonization crimes,” said Brahim Oumansour, a North Africa analyst at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris. He said that proper recognition and financial compensation for the Algerian tests could cost millions of dollars.  Hervieux spent a decade working on nuclear test sites in Algeria and later French Polynesia. Now 80 and living in France’s Lyon area, he says he’s physically fine — although he used to get some questionable radioactive testing results from the French government.  Roland Desbordes is a former French physicist and spokesman for an independent French atomic safety research group called CRIIRAD. He’s visited the Algerian test sites.  Desbordes said he detected radiation levels in some places that were colossal. Algerian nomads visited the sites to collect material left by the French. He believes the French government should declassify key information about the explosions. But he also blames Algerian authorities for failing to properly seal the desert sites.  France’s nuclear compensation commission, CIVEN, said more than 1,600 claims have been filed under a 2010 French law that finally acknowledged health problems related to the testing.Only about one-third have met compensation criteria that include about two dozen possible radiation-related cancers. Almost all the claims came from France and its overseas territory. Of the 51 claims from Algeria, only one has been compensated.  CIVEN Director Ludovic Gerin said the commission can only judge the Algerian claims it receives. He said the sicknesses described in the few that did come in didn’t match compensation criteria. And he said the commission couldn’t actively go out and search for other victims.
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Political and military leaders from across the world head to Germany for the three-day Munich Security Conference that opens Friday. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Munich, from Iran to Hong Kong, Ukraine to Libya, there is no shortage of security flashpoints — and the conflicts are taking place against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak and a global climate emergency.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is heading to the Munich Security Conference, Senegal, Angola, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and Oman, with security, economic ties and shared values likely to be a common thread at all of the stops.At the Munich Security Conference,  Pompeo and leaders from around the world are likely to discuss the coronavirus, efforts towards ending the violence in Afghanistan, the security situation in Iraq, and the threat posed by Iran.Secretary Pompeo’s stops following the Security Conference in Munich, Germany.The visit will be Pompeo’s first as the chief U.S. diplomat to sub-Saharan Africa, and his first stop there will be Senegal.  A senior State Department officials told reporters the U.S. has 60 years of relations with Senegal and shares strong democratic values with Dakar. “Senegal is an extremely strong security partner for the United States. Especially with the very serious stability, terrorism, conflict problems going on in that region, Senegal is an absolute bulwark.”Senegal’s President Macky Sall leaves after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 15, 2019.The senior State Department official said Senegal exports stability instead of instability, and is a very tolerant society — in many ways a role model for the entire continent. Pompeo is planning to meet with Senegal’s President Macky Sall.U.S. Africa Command says there are currently some 6,000 U.S. military personnel deployed in Africa, but that number could be reduced following a global review the Pentagon is conducting.  Senegal’s President Sall has said a drawdown of U.S. forces would be a mistake, and would be misunderstood by Africans.The Pentagon’s review also comes as U.S. defense and intelligence officials are voicing renewed concerns about the spread of increasingly capable terrorist groups in Africa, warning some have become so powerful it is no longer possible to “degrade” them.A senior State Department official said he would defer to the Defense Department about the review of troop levels, but added:“But I can tell you that from the U.S. State Department’s point of view, an awful lot of the security programs that we conduct in the Sahel are actually paid for by U.S. State Department funds. We absolutely plan to continue those programs.”President of Angola Joao Lourenco attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia, April 4, 2019.Angola is the second stop, with senior State Department officials praising President Joao Lourenco for his economic and political reforms, his strong anti-corruption efforts, and his strong regional leadership.Pompeo is expected to offer U.S. support for democratization and anti-corruption efforts that Lourenco has put in place since the departure of former Angolan leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos.From Luanda, Pompeo will travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and will meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Sahle-Work Zewde to discuss joint efforts to promote regional security and to support Ethiopia’s historic political and economic reform agenda.Secretary Pompeo will also meet with African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat and deliver remarks.U.S. competition with China is likely to be an issue, with State Department officials saying they will highlight the advantages of doing business with American companies, which they say are better at creating jobs for Africa’s rapidly growing population of young people.  A senior State Department official said:“Africa’s population will be doubling between now and 2050, and we want to absolutely empower that youth and make sure that they are a force for dynamic growth and economic empowerment and better governance in the world.”Women’s empowerment and removing barriers to equality are also likely to be a focus in all of the stops.FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tarik gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman Jan. 11, 2020.From Addis Ababa, Pompeo will travel to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with senior leaders of the kingdom to discuss bilateral and regional issues, including Iran’s influence in the region, the escalation of violence in Yemen and human rights issues in Saudi Arabia.
His last stop will be Muscat, Oman. The secretary will express his condolences on the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said in person, and will meet with the new sultan, Haitham bin Tarik. A senior State Department official said: “This is an opportunity for the secretary to underscore the United States steadfast partnership with Oman, and our desire to continue our strong bilateral cooperation.”
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In a much-anticipated document released Wednesday, Pope Francis did not accept a proposal to allow the ordination of married men as priests or women as deacons in the Amazon in order to combat the serious clergy shortages in the region.The proposal had been put forward by the majority of bishops attending a synod on the Amazon at the Vatican last year.Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation on the “Beloved Amazon,” made public Wednesday, made no change to the Roman Catholic Church’s centuries-old rule on celibacy. The majority of bishops from the Amazon region had voted at the end of their synod in the Vatican three months ago to allow some married men to be ordained and for women to serve as deacons. But in his document, the pope ignored that proposal.FILE – Pope Francis greets a group of nuns during his weekly general audience, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Jan. 15, 2020.Some groups that advocate for women’s ordination and giving them a greater role in the church criticized the pope’s decision. The Britain-based Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research said in a statement that the pope’s refusal to consider the ordination of women rejects the explicit recommendation of the synod on the Amazon.”Beloved Amazon” was more of a love letter by the Latin American prelate to the Amazonian rain forest and the indigenous people who populate it, according to Cardinal Michael Czerny, the synod secretary.The cardinal said the pope’s love for the region lay at the heart of the pope’s apostolic exhortation. Pope Francis, he added, has “four great dreams” for this region: social, ecological, cultural and pastoral.The pope says the Amazon region is one that “fights for the rights of the poor,” that “preserves its distinctive cultural riches,” that “jealously preserves its overwhelming natural beauty” and where Christian communities may be “capable of generous commitment, incarnate in the Amazon region.”Francis urged Catholics to “feel outrage” over the exploitation of indigenous people. He also spoke about the “injustice and crime” committed against the people of the Amazon and their land, devastated by illegal mining and extraction industries.In the Roman Catholic Church, only priests can say mass. Due to the acute shortage in the region, the faithful in at least 85% of villages cannot attend regular services and have not for years.The pope said, “Every effort should be made” to give the faithful access to the Eucharist.”This urgent need leads me to urge all bishops, especially those in Latin America … to be more generous in encouraging those who display a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region,” he wrote.Pope Francis called on bishops to promote “prayer for priestly vocations.” He also said there was a need for priests who understand Amazon sensibilities.
 
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Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General’s Office in Lviv suspects an underworld criminal and a police major of collusion in the arson of a vehicle belonging to RFE/RL correspondent Halyna Tereshchuk.Iryna Didenko, the lead prosecutor of the Lviv region, signed the charge sheets for the two suspects on Feb. 11.Accused of ordering the torching of the journalist’s car is a 48-year-old former convict, who is known in the criminal world for black-market schemes and stealing fuel at the Lviv railway.Allegedly colluding with him was a 43-year-old National Police major in the Lviv region, who sought the arsonist and paid him for the crime, according to Didenko.The suspects are on a nationwide wanted list.Both would be prosecuted for intentional destruction of or damage to property, which carries a prison sentence of six to 15 years.The journalist, who has worked for RFE/RL since 2000, said at the time of the arson on Jan. 30 that she suspected the attack was linked to her professional activities.Police on Feb. 6 detained a 19-year-old male in Odesa for allegedly setting the reporter’s car on fire. If found guilty, he faces three to 10 years in prison.The case has been jointly investigated by prosecutors and investigators from the Security Service (SBU).The Ukrainian unit of rights group Freedom House has condemned the torching of Tereshchuk’s car, as well as that of Andriy Lukin, an activist in Zaporizhzhya, whose car was also set ablaze on Jan. 29.The group stated that “arson or other methods of destruction of vehicles and property are becoming increasingly used as a means to pressure active people in Ukraine.”It noted that there were 11 cases last year of property belonging to activists being destroyed and “in almost all cases, the perpetrators were not found and punished.” 
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Social media giant Facebook on Wednesday removed two unconnected networks of accounts, pages, and groups “engaging in foreign or government interference,” one originating in Russia and the other one in Iran, both of which have alleged ties to intelligence services.Calling the behavior “coordinated” and “inauthentic,” Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said both operations were acting on “behalf of a government or foreign actor.”The Russian network primarily targeted Ukraine and its neighboring countries, while the Iranian operation focused mainly on the United States.The people behind the groups and accounts “coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action,” the social-media company said.In total, 78 accounts, 11 pages, 29 groups, and four Instagram accounts originating in Russia were removed.Facebook’s investigation “found links to Russian and military intelligence services” within the Russian network.The people behind the network would pose as citizen journalists and tried to contact policymakers, journalists, and other public figures in the region.They would post content in Russian, English, and Ukrainian “about local and political news including public figures in Ukraine, Russian military engagement in Syria, alleged SBU (Ukrainian Security Service) leaks related to ethnic tensions in Crimea and the downing of the Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014.”Similarly, six Facebook and five Instagram accounts were removed originating in Iran that engaged in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”Some tried contacting public figures and they shared posts on such topics as the U.S. elections, Christianity, U.S.-Iran relations, U.S. immigration policy, and criticism of U.S. policies in the Middle East.About 60 people had followed one or more of the Iran-based Instagram accounts, the media company said. 
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Facebook on Wednesday said it had suspended a network of accounts used by Russian military intelligence to seed false narratives online targeting Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe.”Although the people behind this network attempted to conceal their identities and coordination, our investigation found links to Russian military intelligence services,” Facebook said in a statement.Facebook, which has struggled to stop governments and political groups using its platform to spread false or misleading information, regularly announces it has shut down disinformation campaigns from countries including Russia.The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moscow has previously denied Western allegations of political meddling, including findings by U.S. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller that it used social media accounts in an attempt to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential vote.Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said the latest Russian operation used more than 100 accounts on Facebook and its Instagram photo-sharing platform to create fake personas, often posing as journalists in the targeted countries.These accounts then contacted local media and politicians to plant false stories about politically divisive issues, such as corruption allegations, ethnic tensions in the Russian-annexed peninsula of Crimea and the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014.”We’ve known for a long time that these people look for authentic voices to amplify their narratives,” Gleicher told Reuters. “It is more of a classic intelligence operation, trying to manipulate key individuals to achieve a high impact.”Researchers at social media analytics firm Graphika, who reviewed the accounts before they were suspended by Facebook, said most of the activity dated back to 2016 and 2017, although some accounts were active as recently as this year.The network failed to gather more than a few thousand followers but was able to get articles published in some local media outlets, said Ben Nimmo, Graphika’s head of investigations.The fake journalist personas also conducted interviews with Kremlin critics, tricking them into making unguarded comments and then sharing the messages online, he said.”The operation tried to poison the well of information by using false personas to plant pro-Kremlin and anti-Western narratives online and in local news outlets,” said Nimmo.Facebook said it had also suspended two other groups of accounts, unconnected to the Russian operation. One was linked to a previously-identified Iranian network that has targeted the United States and the other to a PR firm in Vietnam. 
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One patient jumped out of a hospital window to escape her quarantine and another managed to break out by disabling an electronic lock.Two Russian women who were kept in isolation for possible inflection by a new virus say they fled from their hospitals this month because of uncooperative doctors, poor conditions and fear they would become infected. Russian health authorities haven’t commented on their complaints.The incidents occurred amid the outbreak of the virus in China that has already infected more than 40,000 people worldwide. In Russia, only two cases of COVID-19 have been reported. Nevertheless, the authorities took vast measures to prevent the new disease from spreading and hospitalized hundreds of people who returned from China as a precaution.Many of those quarantined in different Russian hospitals complained about dire conditions of isolation rooms and lack of cooperation from doctors, uncertain about quarantine protocols.Both women said their hospital ordeals began after returning from Hainan, a tropical region of China popular with Russian tourists.In a lengthy account on Instagram published Friday, a woman with the screen name of GuzelNeder said her son came down with a cough and a fever of 37.3 C (99.2 F) four days after the family’s return to their home in the city of Samara. She called emergency services, who diagnosed the boy as having a viral respiratory infection and who said the mother and the son must go to a hospital for coronavirus tests.The hospital promised test results within three days, then extended it to five, she said, and meanwhile the boy responded to treatment with medication and an inhalator, she wrote. When she tried to press for results, hospital personnel obstructed her, she said.Meanwhile, she had become concerned about lax procedures in the hospital, saying that some medical personnel came to the isolation area without masks or threw their protective clothing on the floor.Her anxiety soared on the fifth day, when she began to feel badly. She asked her husband to bring her a home pregnancy test, and “after two minutes of wringing my hands in anticipation, it came on the screen — PREGNANT,” she wrote.Her husband argued with the doctor that she and their son should be released because of her condition and concern of infection. The doctor said they had to be held for 14 days even if the virus test came back negative.“My son was hysterical,” she wrote. “There was no exit for us other than to leave the hospital without authorization, through the window,” Guzel said.Police later questioned her at home, but no charges have been reported. “Everyone in my family is alive and healthy, thank god,” she wrote.The other woman, Alla Ilyina, said in an Instagram post she came down with a sore throat several days after returning to St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, from Hainan.Ilyina called emergency services, and medics brought her to a hospital for coronavirus testing, promising to let her go after 24 hours. The next day she was told she tested negative for the virus, but had to remain quarantined for two weeks.“Wild,” Ilyina wrote. “All three tests showed I was completely healthy, so why the hell the quarantine?”Her isolation room was dire, she told the Fontanka newspaper — no books, no shampoo, no Wi-Fi a wastebasket that was never emptied, the door secured by an electronic lock.Frustrated, she figured out how to short-circuit the electronic lock and escaped from the hospital on Friday.Neither the hospital nor police have followed up on her escape, which leads her to believe her health is OK.“If I were sick, they would have swamped me with phone calls,” Fontanka quoted her as saying.On Tuesday evening, Russian media reported that the hospital reported Ilyina’s escape to the police, and that a criminal investigation could be launched into the incident.Both women offered no immediate comment to The Associated Press.Quarantine protocols in relation to the outbreak vary throughout Russia. In some regions, health officials isolate Chinese nationals who have recently returned from China, and in others everyone who reports symptoms resembling those of the new virus are subject to a 14-day quarantine.Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s public health watchdog, hasn’t responded to a request for comment on whether the women were allowed to leave the hospitals.On Wednesday, the Fontanka newspaper published a video reportedly recorded by other patients quarantined in the same hospital Ilyina fled from. The footage shows two young women in what appears to be a patient room singing “I want to be like Alla (Ilyina)” and a handwritten note saying “Let us out of here, please.”Irina Sidorova, another woman who returned from Hainan on the same flight with Ilyina and was quarantined in the same hospital, confirmed to The Associated Press that isolation rooms there were locked, and patients weren’t able to get out on their own.Sidorova said in a phone interview she was hospitalized only a week after she returned to St. Petersburg. She reiterated Ilyina’s complaints about uncooperative doctors and said she wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital until Feb. 15, despite showing no symptoms and testing negative for the virus.
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Pope Francis, in one of the most significant decisions of his papacy, on Wednesday dismissed a proposal to allow some married men to be ordained in the Amazon region to ease an acute scarcity of priests.The recommendation, put forward by Latin American bishops last year, had alarmed conservatives in the deeply polarized 1.3 billion-member Roman Catholic Church, who feared it could lead to a change in the centuries-old commitment to celibacy among priests.FILE – Pope Francis greets a group of nuns during his weekly general audience, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Jan. 15, 2020.Francis delivered his response in an Apostolic Exhortation, three months after the proposal passed by 128 votes to 41 at a contentious Vatican assembly, or synod, of Roman Catholic bishops.Apostolic Exhortations are used to instruct and encourage the Catholic faithful but do not define Church doctrine.Wednesday’s 32-page document did not even mention the proposal, which was for older married deacons who are proven leaders of remote Catholic communities and have stable families to be ordained as priests.Conservatives balked, fearing that even a circumscribed change would be a slippery slope leading to a married priesthood throughout the Church. They branded a pre-synod working document as heretical.In what some viewed as a strategically timed appeal to Francis not to approve the Amazon proposal, a book published last month by Church conservatives defended the tradition of priestly celibacy.”From the Depths of Our Hearts” was co-authored by Cardinal Robert Sarah and former Pope Benedict, though Francis’ predecessor subsequently disassociated himself from the project.Vatican officials said the pope completed the document on Dec. 27, before the book controversy, and handed it in for translations. They said no changes were made after that. In the Exhortation, the 82-year-old Argentine pope wrote, new ways must be found to encourage more priests to work in the remote region, and allow expanded roles for lay people and permanent deacons, of whom the Amazon needed “many more.”Deacons, like priests, are ordained ministers. They can preach, teach, baptize and run parishes, but they cannot say Mass. Married men can become deacons.Because only priests can say Mass, people in at least 85% of Amazon villages cannot attend the liturgy every week and some cannot do so for years.”This urgent need leads me to urge all bishops, especially those in Latin America… to be more generous in encouraging those who display a missionary vocation to opt for the Amazon region,” he wrote.He used the first three chapters of the document to defend the rights and legacies of indigenous people and the environment in the Amazon, which had to be protected because of its vital role in mitigating global warming.Conservatives feared that if Francis had taken up the proposal, other areas with a shortage of priests would follow, even in developed countries such as Germany, where the issue is being discussed.
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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó is gearing up for the next stage of his campaign to oust President Nicolás Maduro following his return home from a tour abroad that included a meeting with his most important foreign ally — U.S. President Donald Trump.An energized Guaidó told cheering supporters at a public square in the capital of Caracas late Tuesday that he is armed with the backing of the “free world” to finish the job of reclaiming the nation.“Today more than ever we have to make our presence known,” Guaidó said. “This is not the time to go back. It’s time to move forward.”Just hours earlier, Guaido sped through immigration at Venezuela’s main airport outside Caracas without any major incidents. Authorities didn’t stop Guaidó, who left the country in defiance of a travel ban imposed by Maduro’s government.But inside the terminal, a woman threw what appeared to be a soft drink can, dousing Guaidó, who moments later walked from the airport pumping his right hand over his head.And outside, an aggressive crowd of Guaidó critics shouted, “Dirty traitor!” and “Get out!” Some threw traffic cones and others pounded the hood of an SUV that whisked him away.Guaidó backers shouted his name in support: “Guaidó! Guaidó!” A few minor clashes broke out between the two sides.Guaidó launched the trip with the goal of redoubling backing in Washington and Europe for the oppositioin’s effort to remove Maduro. The trip’s high-point for Guaidó came with a meeting inside the Oval Office with Trump, the day after the U.S. president recognized him as the “legitimate president of Venezuela” during his State of the Union address.As leader of Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress, Guaidó rose to prominence a year ago when he claimed presidential powers on the grounds that Maduro’s rule is illegitimate after a fraudulent re-election in 2018. He won backing from the United States and more than 50 other nations, though so far has made no visible dent in Maduro’s hold on power.In addition to his stop in Washington, Guaidó met with European leaders including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Guaido told supporters at Tuesday night’s rally that he is holding back some details of his foreign meetings that he is not able to talk about publicly.“Stay tuned,” he said, teasing the crowd.In public comments abroad, Guaidó urged foreign leaders to increase their support for Venezuelans who are trying to shrug off two decades of socialist rule that have left the country broken, with millions emigrating as public services like water and electricity have become a luxury.Officials in the Trump administration have said they are considering ways to exert more pressure to force out Maduro. On Friday, the administration hit the Venezuelan state-run airline CONVIASA with sanctions.Guaidó urged Venezuelans to remain unified and to take to the streets again to demonstrate their will to end the government that the opposition calls a “dictatorship.” He did not immediately announce any plans for organized protests.For his part, Maduro appeared on state television Tuesday to announce new public buses and expanded routes. He didn’t directly mention Guaidó or the opposition leader’s return.“We’re concentrating our efforts on defending Venezuela,” Maduro said, telling supporters not to be distracted by “idiots” and “traitors.”
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A Russia blogger has gone viral with a video prank that inadvertently goes to the heart of a debate over how much public support for Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoys after 20 years in power and counting.   The discussion was launched after blogger Bashir Dokhov posted a video to Youtube in which he glues a large portrait of the Russian leader on the wall of a Moscow apartment elevator.”I’ll put a camera in the corner, too,” says Dokhov, while setting up the joke. “God forbid someone should steal him.”Putin’s picture remained, but reactions to seeing the Russian leader weren’t kind.  Four-letter words abound as startled Russians enter the lift. “Why is he here?” asks one passenger. “What a nightmare!” exclaims another, who then proceeds to bow before the portrait while laughing as her friend snaps a picture.“It’s the worst thing that could possibly happen to our home,” says yet another resident.  But not to Youtube. The video already has had more than 2 million views and counting after just three days.     Putin’s popularity  Beyond the intended laughs, the video has renewed a long simmering debate in Russia: How popular is Vladimir Putin really?  According to polls, Putin has been Russia’s lone towering figure in politics for most of his 20 years in power —  with popularity ratings any western politician would envy.  State polling agencies find the Russian leader’s support at about 73%. Independent Russian pollsters, such as the respected Levada Center, peg that number a bit lower — at 68%.“The rating is rather stable and went up in 2019,” explains Levada’s Denis Volkov to VOA, noting the Kremlin leader’s numbers fluctuated amid the introduction of an unpopular pension reform the year prior.  Putin’s peak came in 2014, when Russia’s annexation of Crimea from neighboring Ukraine saw Putin’s numbers soar to 86%.Yet dig deeper and the numbers vary.  Putin’s trust and “electoral ratings” — which ask whether you would vote to reelect the president were an election held next week — prompt far less impressive results. Just 33%, according to a 2019 poll.  Case in point that the Kremlin pays attention: Putin announced a slew of reforms during his annual state of the nation speech last month — later installing a new Prime Minister amid promises that the focus of his 4th term in office would be improving Russians lives.The other point of the speech? Constitutional reforms aimed — perhaps — at extending Putin’s influence beyond the end of his current and final term in 2024.  Indeed, Kremlin critics have long argued that even the most scientifically rigorous samples are skewed by a lack of political alternatives, state propaganda, or misleading questions by pollsters.  In that regard, Kremlin opponents saw the elevator stunt as a simple up or down vote on Putin’s performance. A case of reality at last unfiltered.“You watch these types of videos and don’t understand why Putin is still in power. There’s no more myth of 86% support,” tweeted Alexander Golovach, a lawyer affiliated with opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, in referring to Putin’s peak approval rating.A Russian prankster glued a massive portrait of President Vladimir Putin to the inside of a residential elevator. He then placed a camera in the elevator to record people’s reactions pic.twitter.com/EwMradd3yl— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) February 11, 2020“Ingenious! It’s the best sociological survey of those I know,” wrote one viewer in responding to the video on Youtube. “And probably the most honest!”Yet another factor in the Russian leader’s numbers? Geography.   Surveys show Putin’s support is strongest in the regions where the leader has garnered support with a mix of anti-western rhetoric and traditional conservative values.   Yet critics note those same surveys provide Russians a rare opportunity to reach out to Moscow with problems of more immediate concern. “Why bite the hand that feeds?” the argument goes.  Russia’s urban centers certainly have been ground zero of opposition protests — a sentiment perhaps reflected in the Moscow elevator stunt.  Indeed, the prank’s author insisted his “elevator sample” wasn’t scientific in the least.   In an interview Monday with Echo of Moscow radio, the blogger Bashir Dokhov, admitted he’d simply culled the most entertaining reactions.“There were lots of times when people didn’t react at all,” says Dokhov. “Others just took selfies.”  
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