Month: February 2021

The Taliban demanded Sunday that the United States and its foreign military allies leave Afghanistan by May 1, in line with a peace agreement the insurgent group signed with Washington a year ago, warning any attempt to change the path “is already doomed to failure.” 
  
In a statement released to journalists and on its website marking the first anniversary of the February 2020 accord sealed in Doha, Qatar, the Taliban claimed they have fully adhered to, and remain committed to, the understanding aimed at ending two decades of Afghan war. It called on Washington to honor its part of what the group described as a “historic” deal. FILE – In this Feb. 29, 2020, U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group’s top political leader sign a peace agreement between Taliban and US officials in Doha, Qatar.  
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is currently reviewing the deal his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, sealed with the Afghan insurgency and deciding whether to pull the remaining 2,500 American soldiers from Afghanistan to close America’s longest war. NATO-led U.S. allies have fewer than 10,000 troops left in the country. 
  
The U.S. review process has stemmed from widespread allegations the Taliban have not lived up to their commitments, including those of cutting ties with al-Qaida and other terrorist groups that threaten the U.S. and the security of its allies. 
  
“The Doha agreement has created a practical framework for bringing peace and security to Afghanistan. If any other pathway is pursued as a replacement, then it is already doomed to failure,” the Taliban statement warned. 
  
It said that Washington has committed itself in the agreement that within 14 months of signing, all U.S.-led international forces and their nondiplomatic personnel, private contractors, advisers, trainers and service providers will withdraw from Afghanistan. 
  
“In line with this agreement, a large part of foreign forces specifically American forces have withdrawn from our country, while the rest must also withdraw within the specified date,” the statement stressed. 
  
The Taliban said Qatar and the United Nations Security Council, along with all other countries and international observers that attended the Doha signing ceremony, “have an obligation in the complete implementation of the agreement that must be fulfilled.” 
  
The insurgents, under the deal, agreed to stop attacking international forces in Afghanistan and to open direct peace talks with representatives of the U.S.-backed Afghan government to try to negotiate a political settlement to the country’s long conflict.  
Washington acknowledges the U.S. military has not suffered any casualties since signing the Doha agreement. Before then, the Afghan military mission had claimed the lives of more than 2,400 American soldiers and injured thousands of others. 
  
The Taliban rejected terror link charges and allegations they have intensified the conflict as propaganda by some Afghan and “foreign actors” who the group said are attempting to disrupt the peace process. 
  
Edmund Fitton-Brown, coordinator of the United Nations monitoring team for Islamic State, al-Qaida and the Taliban, told an online event at the Middle East Institute on Thursday that the Taliban have failed to cut ties with al-Qaida.   
  
“As yet, we have not seen any evidence,” he said.   
  
The so-called intra-Afghan negotiations started in September, six months later than scheduled in the U.S.-Taliban deal because of a rift between the Afghan government and the Taliban over the release of 5,000 insurgent prisoners.  FILE – Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, bottom right, speaks at the opening session of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, Sept. 12, 2020.Kabul was unhappy with the Doha accord because it was kept out of it. 
  
Meanwhile, the United Nations has reported the Afghan violence has also intensified since the start of the talks, with civilians bearing the brunt of it. 
 
More than 3,000 civilians were killed and 5,800 were injured in Afghanistan in 2020, the U.N office in Kabul said last week. The annual report said civilian casualties rose 45% after the start of the intra-Afghan negotiations. 
  
Afghan leaders allege the Trump administration’s decision to leave Kabul out of the February 2020 agreement has only emboldened the Taliban to intensify military assaults and drag their feet in the peace talks.  
  
The insurgents dismiss Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s government as an illegitimate entity they say stemmed from the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. 
  
Ghani’s special envoy for neighboring Pakistan, Mohammed Umer Daudzai, said Biden’s review of Afghan peace deal with the Taliban has ended the “unpredictability” that was plaguing the process from the outset about whether the arrangement will promote peace in Afghanistan.  
  
“Now with the Biden administration, we see an increase in predictability,” Daudzai told VOA in an interview.  
  
The Afghan presidential envoy said his government has left it entirely for Washington to decide whether they withdraw or leave some troops in Afghanistan while reviewing the document. 
  
“We don’t seek that Americans should get back into the war, should get involved in the war. What we are seeking from them is that the process of state building that they together with us started 19 years ago they continue with that,” said Daudzai. The Taliban say their deal with the U.S. required the release of another 7,500 insurgent prisoners from Afghan jails and the removal of names of top Taliban leaders from a U.N. sanctions list by now, but those terms have not been fulfilled by the opposing side. The insurgents also dismiss Kabul’s demand for a ceasefire, saying they have reduced battlefield attacks as part of the deal with Washington, but a complete cessation of hostilities, they insist, is linked to a political agreement the warring parties intend to reach in the ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations.  
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An internal U.S. government report obtained by The New York Times says that Ethiopia is conducting “a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing” under the cover of war in the Tigray region, an area largely controlled by Amhara militias in the northern part of the country.The Times says the report, written earlier in February, describes “in stark terms a land of looted houses and deserted villages where tens of thousands of people are unaccounted for.”According to the Times, the report finds that Ethiopian officials and allied militia fighters from the neighboring Amhara region, who moved into Tigray in support of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, are “deliberately and efficiently rendering Western Tigray ethnically homogeneous through the organized use of force and intimidation.”The report says some people fled into the bush or crossed illegally into Sudan, while others were rounded up and forcibly relocated to other parts of Tigray, according to the newspaper.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Saturday that the United States is “gravely concerned by reports of atrocities and the overall deteriorating situation in the Tigray.”The U.S. “has repeatedly engaged the Ethiopian government on the importance of ending the violence, ensuring unhindered humanitarian access to Tigray, and allowing a full, independent, international investigation into all reports of human rights violations, abuses, and atrocities,” Blinken said, adding that those responsible for them “must be held accountable.”Blinken called on the African Union, and regional and international partners to work with the U.S. to “address the crisis in Tigray, including through action at the UN and other relevant bodies.”Blinken also addressed the activity of Eritrean soldiers in Tigray.”The immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces and Amhara regional forces from Tigray are essential first steps,” Blinken said. “They should be accompanied by unilateral declarations of cessation of hostilities by all parties to the conflict and a commitment to permit unhindered delivery of assistance to those in Tigray.”The lead Republican in U.S. House of Representative Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, also issued a statement Saturday, urging the Biden administration “to take decisive action to hold those accountable for any atrocities committed” in the Tigray region.“This must be a high priority as the U.S. takes on the role of U.N. Security Council Chair next month,” McCaul said.The armed conflict in Tigray has taken thousands of people’s lives. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes as a result. The region of more than 5 million people is facing shortages of food, water and medicine. 
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When drained of glamour, what’s left of the Golden Globes?That’s one of the biggest questions heading into the 78th annual awards on Sunday night. The show, postponed two months from its usual early-January perch, will have little of what makes the Globes one of the frothiest and glitziest events of the year. Due to the pandemic, there will be no parade of stars down the red carpet outside the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. Its hosts, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, will be on different sides of the country.More than any award show, the Globes revel in being an intimate banquet of stars. When the show begins at 8 p.m. EST on NBC, with Poehler in Beverly Hills and Fey in New York’s Rainbow Room, the circumstances will test the Globes telecast like never before.Presenters will include Awkwafina, Joaquin Phoenix, Kristen Wiig, Tiffany Haddish, Margot Robbie and Angela Bassett. At least some of them will be present at one of the two locations. Pre-show coverage is still going forward on E! beginning at 4 p.m. EST and on NBC beginning at 7 p.m. EST. The telecast will be streamed on NBC’s website with a television-provider log-in, as well as on the Roku Channel, Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV, Sling TV and Fubo TV.Lack of diversityBut pandemic improvising is only part of the damage control the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the Globes, finds itself dealing with this year. A pair of extensive reports by the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times in the week leading up to the awards renewed scrutiny on the press association and its 87 voting members.While the HFPA has long been known as an organization with members of questionable qualification — most of its members don’t write for well-known publications — and are known for being swayed by high-priced junkets, the reports again forced the HFPA to defend itself.Among the most damning details was the revelation that there are no Black voting members in the group, something that only reinforced criticism that the press association — which host Ricky Gervais last year called “very, very racist” in his opening monologue — needs overhauling. This year, none of the most acclaimed Black-led films — Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, One Night in Miami, Judas and the Black Messiah, Da 5 Bloods — were nominated for the Globes’ best picture award.In a statement, the HFPA said it would make “an action plan” to change. “We understand that we need to bring in Black members, as well as members from other underrepresented backgrounds,” the group said.For some, none of the revelations were surprising. Ava DuVernay tweeted in response to the Los Angeles Times article: “Reveals? As in, people are acting like this isn’t already widely known? For YEARS?”Two-time nominee Sterling K. Brown, who’s presenting Sunday, said in an Instagram post that “having a multitude of Black presenters does not absolve you of your lack of diversity.”“87 people wield a tremendous amount of power,” said Brown. “For any governing body of a current Hollywood award show to have such a lack of voting representation illustrates a level of irresponsibility that should not be ignored.”42 nominations for NetflixYet the Globes have persisted because of their popularity (the show ranks as the third most-watched award show, after the Oscars and Grammys), their profitability (NBC paid $60 million for broadcast rights in 2018) and because they serve as important marketing material for contending films and Oscar hopefuls. That may be especially true this year when the pandemic has upset the normal rhythms of buzz in a virtual awards season lacking the usual frenzy.The Globes are happening on the original date of the Academy Awards, which are instead to be held April 25.Netflix comes in with a commanding 42 nominations, including a leading six nods for David Fincher’s Mank and The Crown also topping TV nominees with six nods. Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, also from Netflix, is also a heavyweight with five nominations.Chloe Zhao, the Nomadland filmmaker and Oscar frontrunner, is expected to become the first woman of Asian descent to win best director at the Globes and the first woman since Barbra Streisand won for Yentl in 1984.Chadwick Boseman, nominated for best actor for his performance in the August Wilson adaptation Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, could win a posthumous Golden Globe. Boseman is widely expected to be nominated for an Oscar.And Borat Subsequent Moviefilm stands a good chance of being crowned best picture, comedy or musical. With many of the leading nominees in the drama category — among them Mank, Nomadland, The Father, Promising Young Woman and The Trial of the Chicago 7 — Sacha Baron Cohen’s sequel could emerge a big winner. Cohen, who won a Globe for his performance in the first Borat film, is nominated for Borat and for his role in The Trial of the Chicago 7.Jane Fonda, a seven-time Globe winner, will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. Norman Lear will be honored for his television career and accept an award named after Carol Burnett.
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Lawmakers in the southern U.S. state of Virginia gave final approval Saturday to a bill that will legalize marijuana for adult recreational use, but not until 2024, when retail sales of the drug would also begin.With a compromise bill clearing the House and Senate, Virginia becomes the first Southern state to vote to legalize marijuana, joining 15 other states and the District of Columbia. The legislation now goes to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who supports legalization.The bill was a top priority for Democrats, who framed legalization as a necessary step to end the disparate treatment of people of color under current marijuana laws. But talks between Democrats in the House and Senate grew tense in recent days, and a compromise version of the massive bill did not emerge publicly until late Saturday afternoon.“It’s been a lot of work to get here, but I would say that we’re on the path to an equitable law allowing responsible adults to use cannabis,” said Sen. Adam Ebbin, the chief sponsor of the Senate bill.Several Democrats said they hoped Northam would send the legislation back to them with amendments, including speeding up the date for legalization.“If we have already made the decision that simple possession should be repealed, we could have done that today and ended the disproportionate fines on communities of color,” said Sen. Jennifer McClellan.“Let’s be absolutely clear – this bill is not legalization, and there are a lot of steps between here and legalization,” she said.Northam’s spokesperson, Alena Yarmosky, said the governor “looks forward to continuing to improve this legislation.”“There’s still a lot of work ahead, but this bill will help to reinvest in our communities and reduce inequities in our criminal justice system,” she said.’Justice bill’Under the legislation, possession of up to 28.3 grams of marijuana will become legal beginning Jan. 1, 2024, at the same time sales will begin and regulations will go into effect to control the marijuana marketplace in Virginia.Under a provision Senate Democrats insisted on, the legislation will include a reenactment clause that will require a second vote from the General Assembly next year, but only on the regulatory framework and criminal penalties for several offenses, including underage use and public consumption of marijuana. A second vote will not be required on legalization.The Senate had sought to legalize simple possession this year to immediately end punishments for people with small amounts of marijuana, but House Democrats argued that legalization without a legal market for marijuana could promote the growth of the black market.Lawmakers last year decriminalized marijuana, making simple possession a civil penalty that can be punished by a fine of no more than $25.House Majority Leader Charniele Herring said that while the legislation isn’t perfect, it was a “justice bill.”“This moves us in a … direction to strike down and to address those institutional barriers, and over-policing, over-arrests, over-convictions of African Americans who do not use marijuana at a higher rate than our white counterparts, but we seem to get the brunt of criminal convictions,” Herring said.A recent study by the legislature’s research and watchdog agency found that from 2010-19, the average arrest rate of Black individuals for marijuana possession was 3.5 times higher than the arrest rate for whites. The study also found that Black people were convicted at a rate 3.9 times higher than whites.The bill calls for dedicating 30% of marijuana tax revenue — after program costs — to a Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund. The money would be used to help communities that have been historically over-policed for marijuana crimes, with funds going toward scholarships, workforce development and job placement services, and low- or no-interest loans for qualified cannabis businesses.Virginians who have a marijuana-related conviction, have family members with a conviction, or live in an area that is economically distressed could qualify as social equity applicants who would get preference for licenses to get into the marijuana marketplace as cultivators, wholesalers, processors and retailers.The largest portion of the tax revenue from marijuana sales would go toward funding pre-K for at-risk kids.The bill drew sharp criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and other racial justice advocacy groups.“Today, the Virginia General Assembly failed to legalize marijuana for racial justice. Lawmakers paid lip service to the communities that have suffered decades of harm caused by the racist War on Drugs with legislation that falls short of equitable reform and delays justice,” the ACLU said in a tweet.Groups that opposed legalization entirely have said they are concerned that it could result in an increase in drug-impaired driving crashes and the use of marijuana among youth.Republican lawmakers spoke against the measure Saturday night, saying such a critical issue deserved a less rushed approach.“I would say there are not more than two or three members of this body that have a clue about the comprehensiveness of what this bill does,” said Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment.
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Two skiers navigated a thin layer of snow with no margin for error down the precipitous shoulder of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park and alternately skied and rappelled back to the valley floor in an unusually daring feat.Jason Torlano, 45, and Zach Milligan, 40, completed the descent in five hours Sunday by carefully carving their way in crusty snow and using ropes to rappel several sections of bare rock known as the “death slabs” beneath the iconic face of Half Dome, the Fresno Bee reported Thursday.”If you fall to your left or right, you’re definitely dead,” said JT Holmes, a professional free skier and a friend of Torlano. “If you fall down the middle, you have a small chance of not falling to your death — but it’s a maybe.”Snowboarder Jim Zellers is believed to be the first to descend the 243-meter upper section on the shoulder of the dome in 2000. But no one is known to have attempted the entire 1,463-meter descent from peak to valley.Torlano said he had been dreaming about skiing the dome since his family moved to Yosemite when he was 5 years old.He first climbed Half Dome as a youngster, clinging to the same cables tens of thousands of visitors do every year to ascend the final steep pitch up the rounded side of the polished granite feature. He advanced to become one of an elite group of climbers to scale the sheer granite face at least a dozen times, using only ropes to catch his fall. He later became a ranger in the park.”It’s just always been there,” Torlano told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve been attracted to Half Dome for as long as I can remember.”After also serving a stint in the U.S. Army, he settled down with his wife and children in a community near Yosemite. He specializes in using ropes to work in high-altitude and dangerous settings.He said he tried to ski down Half Dome each of the past three years but called it off after finding unsuitable snow. This year, an early February storm filled Yosemite with fresh powder, including about 7.6 centimeters of snow at the peak of Half Dome.He rented a friend’s small plane Feb. 19 to study the snow conditions and possible route before calling Milligan, a rock-climbing buddy, to join him.Milligan said he initially planned to only film Torlano skiing but decided to make his own descent by carefully side slipping down on skis. He said things quickly turned dangerous when he skied over part of one of the cables and lost control before using an ice ax to stop his slide and right himself.”I was just trying to stay in control and stay alive,” Milligan said. “You’re on that spine and you don’t have a lot of room for error.” 
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The Biden administration will make an announcement Monday regarding Saudi Arabia, U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday.”There will be an announcement on Monday as to what we are going to be doing with Saudi Arabia generally,” the president said when a reporter asked about punishing the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler. President Joe Biden speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, before boarding Marine One helicopter, Feb. 27, 2021, for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and then on to Wilmington, Del.Biden took just the one question as he and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, left for Delaware for the weekend. He gave no details.The administration has come under criticism for not being tougher on the crown prince, despite assessing in a declassified intelligence report released Friday that he approved the killing of Saudi dissident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey.The intelligence report found that Khashoggi was lured to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, and killed by operatives linked to the crown prince. His body was dismembered, and his remains have never been found. Riyadh eventually said Khashoggi was mistakenly killed in what it called a rogue operation but denied the crown prince’s involvement.“While the United States remains invested in its relationship with Saudi Arabia, President Biden has made clear that partnership must reflect U.S. values,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.FILE – Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a virtual meeting with Mexican Secretary of Economy Tatiana Clouthier, who is in Mexico City, Feb. 26, 2021, in the Benjamin Franklin room at the State Department in Washington.“To that end, we have made absolutely clear that extraterritorial threats and assaults by Saudi Arabia against activists, dissidents and journalists must end. They will not be tolerated by the United States,” Blinken added.The report said the intelligence community based its conclusions on the fact that the prince is known to exert tight control over decision-making in the kingdom, and on his support for using violence to silence dissidents abroad.Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said it rejected completely “the negative, false and unacceptable” assessment by the U.S. intelligence report and said it contained “inaccurate information and conclusions.”Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen, was a legal U.S. resident and had written op-ed columns for the Post that were critical of the crown prince. He had four adult children, at least two of whom are American citizens, according to the Post.The report prompted the Biden administration to announce visa restrictions against 76 Saudi citizens. Blinken said they were “believed to have been engaged in threatening dissidents overseas, including but not limited to the Khashoggi killing.”The U.S. Treasury Department also announced sanctions on Ahmad Hassan Mohammed al Asiri, Saudi Arabia’s former deputy head of the General Intelligence Presidency, and Saudi Arabia’s Rapid Intervention Force in connection with Khashoggi’s killing.FILE – In this June 29, 2019, photo, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman listens during the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan.“These persons are designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world,” the Treasury statement said.Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “The United States stands united with journalists and political dissidents in opposing threats of violence and intimidation. We will continue to defend the freedom of expression, which is the bedrock of a free society.”The Biden administration stopped short of sanctioning Crown Prince Mohammed himself.VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin and VOA UN Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.     
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Mexican authorities hope most of the asylum seekers living in a major encampment on the border will be allowed to enter the United States by the end of next week, according to a Mexican government source.
 
The migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the river from Brownsville, Texas, is currently home to just under 700 migrants, according to the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR). The majority are asylum seekers who have been waiting in Mexico as their cases wind through U.S. courts under a program implemented by former President Donald Trump.  
 
One week ago, President Joe Biden’s administration began permitting members of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program to enter the United States to pursue their court cases. UNHCR spokeswoman Silvia Garduno said 27 people crossed the border from Mexico Thursday and 100 did so Friday, and that the agency hopes to continue this pace in the coming days.
 
The agency, along with the International Organization for Migration, is in charge of the logistics of registering and transporting migrants from the camp to the United States.
 
The Mexican government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the goal was for 500 migrants in the Matamoros camp to enter the United States by the end of next week.
 
Mexican authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) referred Reuters to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement that said the registration process “will be done as quickly as possible.”
 
In Matamoros, asylum seekers expressed optimism. “We’ve just received news that tomorrow we’re leaving!” said Honduran asylum seeker Josue Cornejo in a video recorded inside the camp Friday evening, which also shows his wife and daughters wiping away tears.
 
But as one tent city begins to empty in northeastern Mexico, another has sprung up on the other side of the country. In Tijuana, migrants encouraged by the news that some asylum seekers were being allowed to enter the United States have begun to camp out near the El Chaparral port of entry, across the border from San Diego, California.
 
Advocates say about 50 tents have been put up in recent days.  
 
Biden, a Democrat, is balancing pressure from immigration advocates to unwind the hardline immigration policies of his predecessor with concerns about rising numbers of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
 
To handle an anticipated rise in crossings, CBP said in a statement on Friday that it planned to open a facility in Eagle Pass, Texas. Plans for the new facility come after CBP announced on February 9 the opening of another temporary facility in Donna, Texas, to handle border processing while the agency’s permanent center in McAllen is renovated.
 
Under U.S. law, children who arrive at the border without parents or legal guardians have to be transferred quickly out of border patrol facilities and into government-run shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.
 
Separately, HHS is also scrambling to cope with the influx of new arrivals by opening emergency shelters and trying to speed releases of migrant kids to sponsors in the United States.
 
“There are no good choices here,” Biden told reporters Friday. “The only other options are to send kids back, which is what the prior administration did.”
 
Most migrants caught at the border, including families and individual adult asylum seekers, are still being rapidly expelled at the border under a Trump-era health rule in place since last March.
 
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The U.S. Peace Corps turns 60 Monday.Since its establishment through executive order by President John F. Kennedy on March 1, 1961, the Peace Corps has sent more than 240,000 volunteers to 141 countries. The organization quickly became an icon of the idealistic 1960s.The goal was to foster peace and understanding by sending mostly young, college-educated or otherwise experienced Americans to developing countries for two-year stints, helping with education, health, community economic development, agriculture, the environment and youth development.The idea for the Peace Corps came during the 1960 presidential campaign when Kennedy gave an impromptu speech on the steps of the University of Michigan’s student union on Oct. 14. During the speech, he asked students if they would be willing to serve their country and the cause of peace by volunteering to work in the developing world.”How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world?” Kennedy asked.“On your willingness to do that, not merely to serve one year or two years in the service, but on your willingness to contribute part of your life to this country, I think will depend the answer whether a free society can compete. I think it can. And I think Americans are willing to contribute. But the effort must be far greater than we have ever made in the past,” he said.In its first five years the Peace Corps sent over 14,000 volunteers to 55 countries, according to The Washington Post.Among those were Warren Master and his wife, Karen, of Hobe Sound, Florida.From January 1966 to July 1967, when the native New Yorkers were 22 and 23, respectively, they were Peace Corps volunteers in Turkey. They arrived just in time to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.FILE – U.S. first lady Michelle Obama laughs with Peace Corps volunteers participating in a project in Kakata, some 70 kilometers from Liberia’s capital of Monrovia, June 27, 2016.Their first job was to join a Turkish team tasked with establishing a rural tuberculosis control program in and around Ceyhan in Adana province.“Our job was to work ourselves out of a job as our Turkish counterparts moved into this space,” said Warren.And it worked.After six months, they were reassigned to teaching positions in Ankara.“My day job was primarily teaching English to pre-med students at Hacettepe University,” Warren said. “Meanwhile, we found housing in one of Ankara’s many shantytowns that ringed the nation’s capital.”Upon returning to the U.S., Warren got a master’s degree in anthropology. He also took a job organizing community action programs in Appalachia and American inner cities. It was work he described as very similar to Peace Corps work.After that, he became a public servant.In Ankara, Karen began teaching at a nursery school located in Gulveren.“This was my first experience with young kids. The school was on the lower floor of a coffee house. There was very little in the way of materials,” she said. “I had to improvise everything.”In her last year, she taught English at Middle Eastern Technical University.“At that time in my life, teaching was not really on my radar as a possible professional goal,” she said, adding that she had studied voice for six years.While theater was her passion, she said her experience in Turkey made her realize she loved teaching, too. She went on to become a drama and English teacher.“The experience in Turkey allowed me to explore facets of myself I didn’t know existed,” she said. “It exposed me to another country’s culture and language far different from anything I’d known. It was life changing.”Some of the more recent highlights of the Peace Corps work includes sending 32 volunteers to South Africa as teachers in 1997, the first volunteers to go to that country.The program was sparked by President Nelson Mandela’s 1994 state visit to the U.S. when he asked then-President Bill Clinton for help addressing social and economic challenges in the country.In 1995, after Hurricane Luis tore through the Lesser Antilles, the Peace Corps sent volunteers to help rebuild homes. That experience led to the Peace Corps Response program, which provides “short–term, focused, humanitarian service to countries worldwide.”FILE – A Peace Corps volunteer works with a caterpillar driver on the Great Ruaha road project in Tanganyika, present-day Tanzania, in 1962. They were working to secure better access to a sugar refinery.In 2011, three women testified before Congress alleging their claims of rape had not been taken seriously. In 2013, the Peace Corps established an Office of Sexual Assault Risk-Reduction and Response to better mitigate dangers and provide support for victims.More recently, the coronavirus pandemic has hit the Peace Corps hard.Last March, concerns about the virus caused it to suspend operations in the more than 60 countries in which it was operating and bring all 7,000 of its volunteers back to the United States.It is unclear what the Peace Corps’ 61st year will look like, but according to a spokesperson, they are accepting volunteer applications for tentative departures late this year or early next year.“As the Peace Corps celebrates our 60th anniversary, I am reminded of how far we have come and what an unprecedented time we are in now,” says Acting Peace Corps Director Carol Spahn. “The past 60 years have truly prepared us for this historic moment. During a pandemic that has touched every corner of the globe, it’s clear that we are all in this together.”Spahn added, “As we look to the next 60 years, I know the Peace Corps will continue to be a community of people — all over the world — willing to do the hard work of promoting peace and friendship.”
 
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A federal judge on Friday approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users.U.S. District Judge James Donato approved the deal in a class-action lawsuit that was filed in Illinois in 2015. Nearly 1.6 million Facebook users in Illinois who submitted claims will be affected.Donato called it one of the largest settlements ever for a privacy violation.”It will put at least $345 into the hands of every class member interested in being compensated,” he wrote, calling it “a major win for consumers in the hotly contested area of digital privacy.”Jay Edelson, a Chicago attorney who filed the lawsuit, told the Chicago Tribune that the checks could be in the mail within two months unless the ruling is appealed.“We are pleased to have reached a settlement so we can move past this matter, which is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders,” Facebook, which is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, said in a statement.The lawsuit accused the social media giant of violating an Illinois privacy law by failing to get consent before using facial-recognition technology to scan photos uploaded by users to create and store faces digitally.The state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act allowed consumers to sue companies that didn’t get permission before harvesting data such as faces and fingerprints.The case eventually wound up as a class-action lawsuit in California.Facebook has since changed its photo-tagging system.
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US intelligence agencies released a report to Congress on Friday concluding that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved an operation in 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey, ‘to capture or kill’ Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and US resident.  VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports on reaction to the long-awaited report.
Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov
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In 2019, Lonnie Bunch became the first African American and first historian to become Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution — the museum’s highest office.  After almost 18 months on the job, he spoke with VOA’s Julie Taboh to share the highlights and challenges of his tenure so far.
Camera: Adam Greenbaum, Smithsonian       Producers: Julie Taboh/Adam Greenbaum
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Diplomats sat beside stacks of briefing papers, flanked by flags and emphasized their closeness. But they were geographically far apart Friday as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, because of the pandemic, started a new chapter in North American relations with virtual visits to Mexico and Canada in what was billed as his first official trip.Though symbolically important in any administration, the decision by President Joe Biden to dispatch Blinken to Mexico and Canada for the first visits, even virtually, is part of a broader effort to turn the page from a predecessor who at times had fraught relations with both nations. The three nations signed a revamped trade accord last year after then-President Donald Trump demanded a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.The secretary began his virtual visits with Mexico, a country Trump repeatedly disparaged in his campaign and early in his presidency, though relations turned more cordial under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.”I wanted to ‘visit,’ in quotation marks, Mexico first to demonstrate the importance that we attach, President Biden attaches, to the relationship between our countries,” Blinken told his counterpart, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second from right, speaks during a virtual meeting at the State Department on Feb. 26, 2021, with Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau who is in Ottawa, Canada.Blinken’s meetings with Mexico and Canada, two of the largest U.S. trading partners, were expected to cover economic ground as well as efforts to fight COVID-19, which has prompted all three countries to close the borders to all but essential traffic.Biden last week participated in his first bilateral meeting, also virtual, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who at times had a frosty relationship with Trump. Biden disappointed some in Canada with his decision upon taking office to reverse Trump and revoke the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, which President Barack Obama’s administration determined had only limited energy and economic benefits to the U.S. and conflicted with efforts to curb climate change.That didn’t come up in the public portion of Blinken’s meeting with Foreign Minister Marc Garneau, who welcomed Biden’s commitment to “renew U.S. leadership and diplomacy.” The secretary later met privately with Trudeau.Ebrard, for his part, welcomed Biden’s decision to reverse his predecessor and rejoin both the Paris climate accord and the World Health Organization. He also praised the “initiatives” of the new administration, an apparent reference to the decision to set a new course on some immigration and border policies.”We understand that these are being done in recognition to the Mexican community,” he said, without mentioning any specific policy. “We are receiving them with empathy.”Biden ended Trump’s policy of requiring migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico or to pursue their claims in Central America. He also restored protection for people without legal status in the U.S. who were brought to the country as children, many of whom are Mexican, and is backing legislation that would enable them to seek citizenship.The Biden administration has begun processing the asylum claims of about 25,000 migrants who had been in Mexico, often in unsanitary and dangerous conditions, but has not lifted a policy, imposed at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, of quickly expelling people captured along the border and has sought to discourage illegal migration.Just before his visit with Ebrard, Blinken conducted a virtual tour of the busy border crossing at El Paso, Texas, and said the administration is working with Mexico and Central American nations to ease the conditions that drive people to try to illegally reach the United States.”To anyone thinking about undertaking that journey, our message is: Don’t do it. We are strictly enforcing our immigration laws and our border security measures,” he said.
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The FBI is keeping close watch on violent domestic extremists who might pose a threat to the U.S. Capitol when President Joe Biden delivers a speech before a joint session of Congress next month, a senior FBI official said Friday.
“We have been worried that domestic violent extremists would react not only to the results of an election that they might not see as favorable, but the transition of a government that they may question,” the senior official told reporters on a press call.
“And so I think for the near future as we continue to go through that process — and I would view the first address [to] the nation part of that process — that we are watching very closely for any reaction from individuals that would show either an intent to commit an attack or somebody that has already committed one,” the official said. The official asked not to be named.
The comments came a day after the acting head of the U.S. Capitol Police warned that militia groups involved in the January 6 attack on the complex by supporters of former President Donald Trump want to “blow up” the building during Biden’s speech.
“We know that members of the militia groups that were present on January 6 have stated their desire that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible, with a direct nexus to the State of the Union,” Yogananda Pittman, the acting police chief, told lawmakers.In response, Pittman said, the Capitol Police force has kept in place security barriers and other enhanced measures implemented after the January 6 attack, steps that she said will likely be removed as the threat dissipates.President Joe Biden delivers a speech on foreign policy, at the State Department, Feb. 4, 2021, in Washington.
A date for Biden’s speech has not been announced yet. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that Biden will deliver his speech after Congress passes the president’s $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus package. Psaki referred a question about the threat to the Secret Service.The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment,Threats of right-wing violence ahead of Biden’s inauguration on January 20 led to the unprecedented deployment of more than 25,000 National Guard to Washington. While the ceremony passed without incident, security around the Capitol remains tight with fences that are more than 2 meters high still in place.
The attack on the Capitol left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and at least 140 other officers injured. It has also triggered a wide-ranging FBI investigation of an estimated 800 Trump supporters who stormed the building and others responsible for the attack.What the FBI knew about the threat of violence to the Capitol and how it conveyed that information to law enforcement agencies have become the subject of controversy in recent week.In the late hours of January 5, the FBI shared with law enforcement agencies a “raw intelligence” report that cited online chatter about impending violence aimed at Congress. “Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in,” the report quoted from an online thread.But Pittman said that even if it had reached them, it would not have changed their “security posture” as it was consistent with Capitol Police’s own threat assessment. Further, Pittman noted, the report advised law enforcement agencies not to “take action based on this reporting.”Meanwhile, the FBI’s massive manhunt for the perpetrators of the Capitol attack has resulted in more than 300 charges and more than 280 arrests, according to acting deputy attorney general John Carlin.
“The investigation into those responsible is moving at a speed and scale that’s unprecedented and rightly so,” Carlin told reporters during the press call. “Those responsible must be held to account, and they will be.”Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump clash with police at the west entrance of the Capitol during a “Stop the Steal” protest outside of the Capitol building in Washington D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.Of those arrested to date, more than two dozen are alleged members of the Oath Keepers, a loosely organized collection of militiamen and other anti-government activists, and the Proud Boys, a pro-Trump right wing organization. But the vast majority have no known ties to any domestic extremist groups.The attack has renewed attention to the growing threat of domestic terrorism in the United States. In recent years, violent domestic extremists have caused more deaths in the U.S. than terrorists with ties to international groups, the FBI official said, noting that 2019 was the deadliest year for violent domestic extremism since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.Last year the FBI arrested about 180 individuals involved in connection with acts of domestic terrorism, the official said.“We are increasingly arresting more domestic terrorists each year, and … we’ve arrested more this year than previous years,” the official said.The FBI investigates five types of domestic terrorism, two of which it has prioritized in the last two years — anti-government violent extremism and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism. Between 2015 and 2019, the most lethal threat posed by domestic terrorists came from racially motivated violent extremists such as white supremacists, the official said.While 2020 marked the first year in nearly a decade without a fatal attack by white supremacists, three of the four lethal attacks reported during the year were committed by anti-government individuals, the official said.
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Twenty-three United Nations human rights experts released a joint statement Friday calling on the United States to adopt reforms on police violence and address systemic racism and racial discrimination.
 
“We have repeatedly raised our concerns about the excessive force used by American police in the context of peaceful demonstrations, and the use of lethal force against individuals who did not present a threat to life at the time of the police intervention,” said the statement.
 
Signatories include Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on extrajudicial and arbitrary executions, Irene Khan, special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Marcos Orellana, special rapporteur on toxics and human rights, Nils Melzer, special rapporteur on torture and other cruel punishment, and others.
 
“In this time of political change, the United States must initiate far-reaching reforms to address police brutality and systemic racism,” they said.
 
The U.N. statement also praised a January report from the Office of the City Controller in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on its response to protests over the May 2020 death of unarmed African American man George Floyd in Minneapolis policy custody.
 
The Philadelphia probe found the city failed to sufficiently plan for the protests and that excessive force was used. It also found inconsistencies in how officers policed massive crowds protesting police brutality and other crowds gathered to show support for the police.
 
“Police officers fired tear gas, rubber bullets and used pepper spray from close range against protesters, residents, and bystanders indiscriminately,” the U.N. report states. “Tear gas canisters even landed in home yards hurting children.”
 
The report found that many violations stemmed from the failure of leadership at the highest levels in key city departments and agencies.
 
“We agree forcefully with the necessity for greater accountability,” said the U.N. statement. “The authorities at all levels must ensure that there is no impunity for any excessive use of force by law enforcement officials.”
 
The U.N. experts urged U.S. officials to address the issue of increased “militarization” of policing.
 
“Studies have shown that the use of military gear and armored vehicles for the purposes of law enforcement has not reduced crime or increased officers’ safety,” they said.
 
“On the contrary, when such equipment is used, officers are more likely to display violent behavior,” the statement added.
 
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The U.S. released a declassified intelligence report Friday that singles out Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for approving the grisly murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey.Khashoggi was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 and killed by operatives linked to the crown prince. His body was dismembered, and his remains have never been found. Riyadh eventually admitted that Khashoggi was mistakenly killed in what it called a rogue operation but denied the crown prince’s involvement.The role of the crown prince, often referred to by his initials, MBS, in Khashoggi’s death has been the subject of media reports since late 2018.The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, said in a statement Friday the report had been “coordinated with the Intelligence Community and the information has been declassified to the greatest extent possible while still protecting the IC’s critical sources and methods.”U.S. President Joe Biden talked Thursday with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman. The White House said Biden and Salman “discussed regional security, including the renewed diplomatic efforts led by the United Nations and the United States to end the war in Yemen, and the U.S. commitment to help Saudi Arabia defend its territory as it faces attacks from Iranian-aligned groups.”The White House readout of the call noted the recent release of several Saudi-American activists and Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul from custody and affirmed the importance the U.S. places on universal human rights and the rule of law. It did not mention the report on Khashoggi.The Trump administration rejected demands by lawmakers to release a declassified version of the report as the White House prioritized arms sales to the kingdom and alliance with Riyadh amid rising U.S. tensions with Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, Iran. 
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When Wyoming U.S. Sen. John Barrasso snapped at Deb Haaland during her confirmation hearing, many in Indian Country were incensed.  The exchange, coupled with descriptions of the Interior secretary nominee as “radical” — by other white, male Republicans — left some feeling Haaland is being treated differently because she is a Native American woman. “If it was any other person, they would not be subjected to being held accountable for their ethnicity,” said Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head Aquinnah in Massachusetts. FILE – Senator John Barrasso, R-WY, listens to Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., during a confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill, Feb. 23, 2021.At Wednesday’s hearing, Barrasso wanted assurance that Haaland would follow the law when it comes to imperiled species. Before the congresswoman finished her response, Barrasso shouted, “I’m talking about the law!” Barrasso, former chairman of Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said his uncharacteristic reaction was a sign of frustration over Haaland dodging questions. Among Haaland supporters across the nation who tuned in virtually, it was infuriating. “It was horrible. It was disrespectful,” said Rebecca Ortega of Santa Clara Pueblo in Haaland’s home state of New Mexico. “I just feel like if it would have been a white man or a white woman, he would never have yelled like that.” The Interior Department has broad oversight of energy development, along with tribal affairs, and some Republican senators have labeled Haaland “radical” over her calls to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and address climate change. They said that could hurt rural America and major oil and gas-producing states. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy after two days of hearings called Haaland a “neo-socialist, left-of-Lenin whack job.”  Andrews-Maltais saw “radical” as a code for “you’re an Indian.”  FILE – Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., speaks during a hearing on the nomination of Xavier Becerra to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill, Feb. 24, 2021.But Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said it’s not about race. Daines frequently uses the term to describe Democrats and their policies, including President Joe Biden and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, whom Daines defeated in November. “As much as I would love to see a Native American be on the president’s Cabinet, I have concerns about her record. … To say otherwise is outrageous and offensive,” he told The Associated Press.  Civil rights activists say Haaland’s treatment fits a pattern of minority nominees encountering more political resistance than white counterparts. FILE – Neera Tanden, nominee for Director of the Office of Management and Budget, appears before a Senate Committee on Capitol Hill, Feb. 10, 2021.The confirmation of Neera Tanden, who would be the first Indian American to head the Office of Management and Budget, was thrown into doubt when it lost support from Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.He cited her controversial tweets attacking members of both parties.  FILE – Associate Attorney General nominee Vanita Gupta speaks at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Jan. 7, 2021.Critics also have targeted Vanita Gupta, an Indian American and Biden’s pick to be associate attorney general, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Health and Human Services secretary.Conservatives launched campaigns calling Gupta “dangerous” and questioning Becerra’s qualifications. FILE – Xavier Becerra testifies during a hearing on his nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill, Feb. 24, 2021.Democrats pushed back against Haaland’s treatment and questioned whether attempts to block her nomination are motivated by something other than her record. Former U.S. Sens. and cousins Tom Udall of New Mexico and Mark Udall of Colorado said Haaland “should be afforded the same respect and deference” as other nominees.  The hearing itself, in which Haaland was grilled on oil and gas development, national parks and tribes, represented a cultural clash in how the Democrats and many Indigenous people view the world — everything is intertwined and must exist in balance, preserving the environment for generations to come. That was seen in Haaland’s response when asked about her motivation to be Interior secretary. She recalled a story about Navajo Code Talkers in World War II who prioritized coming up with a word in their native language for “Mother Earth.” “It’s difficult to not feel obligated to protect this land, and I feel that every Indigenous person in this country understands that,” she said. That broader historical context is missing from Republican talking points against Haaland that instead simplify the debate to a battle between industry and environmentalists, said Dina Gilio-Whitaker, a lecturer in American Indian studies at California State University, San Marcos. “There’s obviously a really huge conversation about how the land came to be the United States to begin with,” she said. “That’s the elephant in the living room nobody wants to talk about.” Andrew Werk Jr., president of the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes on Montana’s Fort Belknap Reservation, said Republicans’ brusque treatment of Haaland was unfair to her and to Americans. But he doesn’t see any racial bias in Daines’ actions for dismissing Haaland as a “radical,” only hardened partisanship. “For all the reasons Senator Daines opposes her, those are all the reasons we support her in Fort Belknap,” Werk said. “Our land is our identity, and as tribes we want to be good stewards and protect that.” FILE – U.S. Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM), top right, is honored by Ho-Chunk tribal drummers at a reception hosted by the Congressional Native American Caucus in Washington, Jan. 3, 2019.Despite Republican opposition, Haaland has enough Democratic support to become the first Native American to lead the Interior Department. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is expected to vote on the nomination next week before the full Senate chimes in. Haaland, 60, weaved childhood memories, experiences on public land and tribes’ rights into her answers during the hearing. She talked about carrying buckets of water for her grandmother down a dusty road at Laguna Pueblo, where she’s from, careful not to spill a drop because she recognized its importance. She talked about harvesting an oryx, a type of antelope, that fed her family for a year, about her support for protecting grizzly bears indefinitely and her ancestors’ sacrifices.  Frank White Clay, chairman of the Crow Tribe, which gets much of its revenue from a coal mine on its southeastern Montana reservation, said Republicans have “legitimate concerns about natural resources.” But he urged them to consider the historic nature of Haaland’s nomination.  “A Native woman up for confirmation — her issues are Indian Country issues,” White Clay said. Haaland pledged to carry out Biden’s agenda, sidestepping specifics on what she would do if confirmed. While the vagueness rattled Republicans, her backers said it showed she’s a consensus-builder.  “She did not lose her cool,” said Kalyn Free, who is Choctaw and supports Haaland. “To me, that’s not an indicator of her performance. … That’s because she had to put up with this crap for 60 years. This was not a new experience for her.” 
 
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