Voice of America’s immigration news

LONDON — Global fossil fuel consumption and energy emissions hit all-time highs in 2023, even as fossil fuels' share of the global energy mix decreased slightly on the year, the industry's Statistical Review of World Energy report said on Thursday. Growing demand for fossil fuel despite the scaling up of renewables could be a sticking point for the transition to lower carbon energy as global temperature increases reach 1.5C (2.7F), the threshold beyond which scientists say impacts such as temperature rise, drought and flooding will become more extreme. "We hope that this report will help governments, world leaders and analysts move forward, clear-eyed about the challenge that lies ahead," Romain Debarre of consultancy Kearney said. Last year was the first full year of rerouted Russian energy flows away from the West following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and also the first full year without major movement restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall global primary energy consumption hit an all-time high of 620 Exajoules, the report said. (An Exajoule is equal to 1018 joules.) Emissions exceeded 40 metric gigatons of CO2 for the first time, the report said. "In a year where we have seen the contribution of renewables reaching a new record high, ever increasing global energy demand means the share coming from fossil fuels has remained virtually unchanged," Simon Virley of consultancy KPMG said. The report recorded shifting trends in fossil fuel use in different regions. In Europe, for example, the fossil fuel share of energy fell below 70% for the first time since the industrial revolution. "In advanced economies, we observe signs of demand for fossil fuels peaking, contrasting with economies in the Global South for whom economic development and improvements in quality of life continue to drive fossil growth," Energy Institute Chief Executive Nick Wayth said. The Energy Institute, together with consultancies KPMG and Kearney, has published the annual report since 2023. They took over from BP last year, which had authored the report, a benchmark for energy professionals, since the 1950s. Fossil fuel accounted for almost all demand growth in India in 2023, the report said, while in China fossil fuel use rose 6% to a new high. But China also accounted for over half of global additions in renewable energy generation last year. “China adding more renewables than the rest of the world put together is remarkable," KPMG's Virley told reporters.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi is marking World Refugee Day in Sudan and South Sudan, where he has been traveling this week, highlighting the situation of millions of people displaced by war. VOA United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer spoke to him from New York.

Washington — Families of Boeing 737 MAX crash victims on Wednesday asked U.S. authorities to impose a fine of up to $24.8 billion on the aviation giant and proceed with criminal prosecution. The move comes a day after Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun acknowledged the gravity of the company's safety problems and assured a U.S. congressional panel that it was making progress on the issue. Sitting behind him in the audience were relatives of victims of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019, who held up victims' photos. "Because Boeing's crime is the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history, a maximum fine of more than $24 billion is legally justified and clearly appropriate," Paul Cassell, a lawyer for the families, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice. The 32-page document explains the calculations behind the amount sought, saying Boeing "should be fined the maximum — $24,780,000,000 — with perhaps $14,000,000,000 to $22,000,0000,000 of the fine suspended on the condition that Boeing devote those suspended funds to an independent corporate monitor and related improvements in compliance and safety programs as identified below." It added: "And Boeing’s Board of Directors should be ordered to meet with the families." The families also believe the government should promptly "launch criminal prosecutions of the responsible corporate officials at Boeing at the time of the two crashes." The case relates to crashes in 2018 and 2019 in Indonesia and Ethiopia that together claimed 346 lives and comes as Boeing faces intensifying scrutiny following recent manufacturing and safety problems. The aviation giant has again been in the public spotlight since a January 5 incident in which a 737 MAX operated by Alaska Airlines was forced to make an emergency landing after a fuselage panel blew out midflight.

United Nations — Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, on Wednesday urged an end to the war in Sudan, where hunger and violence have driven millions from their homes. "They are fleeing horrible violence, very severe violations of human rights," Grandi told VOA in an interview from Juba, South Sudan, after field visits to Renk in South Sudan and across the border in Kosti, a city in Sudan's White Nile state. Thursday is World Refugee Day, and Grandi hopes to put this neglected crisis in the global spotlight. The United Nations has warned that 5 million Sudanese are on the brink of famine. Millions more are severely food insecure. Harvests have been lost, markets looted and burned, and humanitarians obstructed from delivering adequate aid. "But increasingly they are also fleeing deprivation — and in particular food insecurity, and in some cases, hunger," Grandi said. "So you have a multiplication of factors that are all generated clearly by this insane war that doesn't seem to end." The United Nations says the 14-month-long war between rival generals has internally displaced more than 6 million people on top of the nearly 4 million who were displaced before the current conflict. Another 2 million have fled to neighboring countries, including Chad, South Sudan and Ethiopia. "Let's not forget that these people are coming, like here in South Sudan, to countries that are already very fragile — they have huge challenges of their own in terms of security, political fragility, governance, economic problems and so forth," Grandi said, praising them for keeping their borders open and offering shelter. A U.N. panel of experts said earlier this year that external actors are fueling Sudan's conflict by providing the warring generals with weapons and ammunition. "My appeal is really to everybody who has any influence on the parties in this conflict: Push them not towards the battlefield, but to the negotiating table," Grandi said. "This is what is most needed: a cease-fire first and then the possibility that there is a political solution. Without that, I am afraid we will see more refugees and more suffering." The head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has been locked in an armed power struggle with the head of the Sudanese Armed Forces for the past 14 months. The fighting has spread from Sudan's capital, Khartoum, to other parts of the country, leaving death, destruction and a humanitarian catastrophe in its wake.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — Louisiana has become the first U.S. state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, the latest move from a Republican-dominated legislature pushing a conservative agenda under a new governor.  The legislation that Republican Governor Jeff Landry signed into law on Wednesday requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in "large, easily readable font" in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.  Opponents questioned the law's constitutionality and vowed to challenge it in court. Proponents said the measure is not solely religious, but that it has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are "foundational documents of our state and national government."  The posters, which will be paired with a four-paragraph "context statement" describing how the Ten Commandments "were a prominent part of American public education for almost three centuries," must be in place in classrooms by the start of 2025.  Under the law, state funds will not be used to implement the mandate. The posters would be paid for through donations.  The law also "authorizes" but does not require the display of other items in K-12 public schools, including: The Mayflower Compact, which was signed by religious pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and is often referred to as America's "First Constitution"; the Declaration of Independence; and the Northwest Ordinance, which established a government in the Northwest Territory — in the present day Midwest — and created a pathway for admitting new states to the Union.  Opponents vow to challenge law Not long after the governor signed the bill into law at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette on Wednesday, civil rights groups and organizations that want to keep religion out of government promised to file a lawsuit challenging it.  The law prevents students from getting an equal education and will keep children who have different beliefs from feeling safe at school, the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion Foundation said in a joint statement Wednesday afternoon.  "Even among those who may believe in some version of the Ten Commandments, the particular text that they adhere to can differ by religious denomination or tradition. The government should not be taking sides in this theological debate," the groups said.  The controversial law, in a state ensconced in the Bible Belt, comes during a new era of conservative leadership in Louisiana under Landry, who replaced two-term Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards in January. Republicans hold a supermajority in the legislature, and Republicans hold every statewide elected position, paving the way for lawmakers to push through a conservative agenda.  Similar bills requiring the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms have been proposed in other states, including Texas, Oklahoma and Utah. However, with threats of legal battles over the constitutionality of such measures, no state besides Louisiana has succeeded in making the bills law.  Similar law ruled unconstitutional Legal battles over the display of the Ten Commandments in classrooms are not new.  In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional and violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says Congress can "make no law respecting an establishment of religion."   The high court found that the law had no secular purpose but rather served a plainly religious purpose. 

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Quito, Ecuador — Ecuador suffered a nationwide blackout for several hours on Wednesday as the electrical grid failed, with metro services, traffic lights and other critical services crippled. The blackout hit abruptly just after 3 p.m. local time, surprising subway riders in the capital, Quito, as trains came to a halt and hundreds of people were evacuated. Some were forced to walk long distances through dark metro tunnels until they found an exit. Three hours after the stoppage hit, Energy Minister Roberto Luque said on X that 95% of the service had been restored nationwide. Earlier, he had announced a "breakdown in the transmission line, which caused a chain of disconnections" leading to a countrywide failure. "For years there has been a lack of investment in these systems and electrical grids and today we are suffering the consequences," Luque said. Traffic lights in Quito went on the blink and police manned intersections to maintain some semblance of order in the city of 3 million people. Within about an hour, power started returning gradually in the capital. "The incident must have been major because it even knocked out power to the metro, which has its own separate system," Quito Mayor Pabel Munoz said on X. He had ordered the deployment of special teams to help anyone who may be trapped, prevent accidents and "take care of public spaces." Chaos also hit the Pacific port city of Guayaquil, according to an AFP correspondent. People found themselves stranded in elevators in office and residential buildings, and the public water company urged the population to stock up just in case. Street cars in the southern city of Cuenca stopped running. And in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, in the center of the South American country, the situation was similar, and traffic agents had their hands full. Ecuador suffered rolling blackouts in April as a major drought left key hydroelectric reservoirs nearly depleted, and Colombia halted the exportation of electricity to its neighbor amid its own dry spell. Ecuadorans had to contend with planned cuts of up to 13 hours at a time. The situation returned to normal when the rainy season arrived and the country suspended electricity rationing in May. Ninety-two percent of the country's electricity comes from hydroelectric plants.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Washington/Peshawar, Pakistan — Every morning, Zakira prepares Afghan dumplings known as mantu and waits for her sons Arsalan, 12, and Alyan, 10, to return from school when they take the mantu to the nearby streets to sell. "As refugees in Pakistan, this is how we earn a living," said 38-year-old Zakira, who goes by her first name, adding that her husband, a laborer, "can't often find a job." Zakira, a teacher, told VOA she can't find a job in Pakistan because of her refugee status, and that is why her children work. "It is difficult to see them selling food on the street instead of playing like other kids," she said. "But how will we pay the bills if they don't work?" Zakira and her husband hold Afghan citizen cards issued in 2017 by Pakistan to Afghan refugees. More than 800,000 of the 3.1 million Afghan refugees have the cards. "There are no benefits in having these cards, as no one would give me a job with it," Zakira said. Another 1.35 million are registered as Afghan refugees, while more than 800,000 Afghans in Pakistan are undocumented. Around 600,000 new arrivals were in the country before the Pakistani government started deporting undocumented Afghan refugees. Deportations started last year Pakistan began deporting undocumented Afghan refugees last September. According to the United Nations, about 575,000 refugees were returned, of whom 89% were undocumented. Many of the documented refugees are also afraid, as local media reported in March that the government of Pakistan was preparing for the repatriation of Afghan citizen cardholders. Loqman Jalal, 27, who was born in Pakistan and holds a citizen card, told VOA that Afghan refugees, whether documented or undocumented, fear deportation. "There is fear that in the second phase, Pakistan will deport refugees holding ACC and then PoR [proof of registration] holders," said Jalal, a father of three who is concerned about their future. In April, Pakistan extended the proof of registration cards for Afghan refugees to June 30. The U.N., however, said an extension of three months would not lessen the uncertainty the Afghan refugees are facing in Pakistan. Jalal said that the uncertainty makes it difficult for Afghan refugees in Pakistan "to live a normal life." "Everything changed for us after the regime change [Taliban's takeover] in Afghanistan. We face many problems including the possibility of being deported," he said. In May, the U.N. said it assisted the return of 18,700 refugees from Pakistan in the first quarter of 2024, a 14-fold increase from the same period in 2023. "Fear of arrest/deportation, abuse by police or state authorities related to the proof of registration cards extension in Pakistan, no added protection value of the PoR card, and night raids" were some of the reasons, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Sophie Jambazishvili, a senior protection officer for UNHCR in Kabul, told VOA that individuals with PoR cards, UNHRC asylum-seeker certificate holders and ACC holders were included among the refugees forcibly deported to Afghanistan. "We have seen quite a variety of individuals with different legal backgrounds," Jambazishvili said about those deported by Pakistani authorities. She said that Pakistan has not started the second phase of deportations, which will include the ACC holders. "I have to say that we thought that would start. Thankfully, it has not yet fully been implemented," she said. 'Nothing left in Afghanistan' Many refugees, including Zakira, fear that Pakistan will start deporting registered refugees. She said that after living for decades in Pakistan, they have "nothing left in Afghanistan." "I am sad for my children. If deported, I don't know what would happen to them." Zheela Noori contributed to this report, which originated in VOA's Afghan Service.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

A Chinese consortium last month was awarded the contract to develop a deep-sea megaport on Georgia’s Black Sea coast. But critics say the Georgian government is putting the country’s economy and democracy at risk by turning away from Western partners toward China. Henry Ridgwell reports from Tbilisi.

Abuja, Nigeria — The Nigerian air force said Tuesday it will acquire 50 new aircraft to strengthen its capabilities against armed gangs and terrorists in northwest Nigeria. Nigerian Chief of Air Staff Marshal Hassan Bala Abubakar made the announcement at the opening of new military facilities, including two aircraft hangars in northwest Katsina state. Abubakar said the aircraft would include 12 AH-1 attack helicopters, 24 M-346 combat planes, 12 AW109 multipurpose helicopters and a pair of Casa 295 transport aircraft. He did not disclose the cost, nor did he say who would provide the aircraft. He said Nigeria is expected to receive them by next year. The aircraft will be used to bolster offensives against jihadist groups and armed gangs that have terrorized northwest and central states in recent years, Abubakar said. But security analyst Mike Ejiofor says acquiring 50 aircraft is overambitious and possibly misdirected. "I know it will bolster the fight against terrorism, but I believe that we should concentrate more on land than air. We're not at war,” Ejiofor said. The money, he said, should “have been channeled to training and provision of welfare for the ground troops. I think we would've achieved more results." Abubakar’s announcement came as Kaduna state authorities announced Tuesday a partnership with the military to set up three new operational fronts within the state. Kaduna state Governor Uba Sani said, "We concluded with the military to set up forward-operating bases in southern Kaduna, and another one in the Giwa and Birnin-Gwari axis. All the arrangements are being concluded." The Nigerian air force came under heavy criticism in December after more than 80 people were killed and dozens wounded during an airstrike in Kaduna state that was intended to target gangs. Nigerian authorities have promised to operate with more precision to avoid future accidents. Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff General Christopher Musa told journalists in Abuja, "The armed forces of Nigeria are highly professional. We're here to protect innocent citizens, not to harm them. Whatever it was that happened there was a mistake, but we're addressing such issues." Ejiofor said authorities should focus more on boosting the ability of the air force to gather and process accurate information about the activities of armed groups. "These strikes are intelligence-driven, so we must get the intelligence before they're guided to the areas,” he said. “I think what we should've done is to deploy more drones that will be sending this data."

MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, has formed over the western Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), said on Wednesday, bringing  flooding across the southern coast of the United States.  The storm was located about 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) east of Tampico, Mexico, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometers per hour (40.3 miles per hour), the forecaster said. Alberto is likely to dissipate over Mexico as early as Thursday night.  The NHC said the storm was very large and that rainfall, coastal flooding and strong winds could occur far from the center along north-eastern Mexico and the south Texas coast.   Heavy rains also will affect large regions of Central America, the NHC warned, a region that is still facing strong rains that left some 11 people dead in El Salvador over the weekend because of landslides and road accidents.  "Life-threatening flooding and mudslides are likely in and near higher terrain across the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas," the NHC said, including the eastern city of Ciudad Victoria and Monterrey, Mexico's third-biggest city in Nuevo Leon state.  Nuevo Leon State Governor Samuel Garcia said on the social media platform X that people should avoid leaving the house or crossing waterways while it is raining and to keep emergency kits on hand. Workers were ready to address the possible impact of strong winds and rain on the electrical grid, water supplies, and sewage, he said.  Across the Gulf on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, local media reported strong winds and torrential rains. Some authorities, however, said the storm could help fill the country's dams, depleted by an extended drought.  The NHC predicted "moderate coastal flooding" along much of the Texan coast through Thursday as southern areas experience tropical storm conditions.   Forecasters have warned that this year's Atlantic hurricane season will likely be highly active because of impacts from the La Nina weather pattern and warmer ocean water. 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran's imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Narges Mohammadi, has been sentenced to another year in prison over her activism, her lawyer said Wednesday.  Mostafa Nili, Mohammadi's lawyer, told The Associated Press that his client was convicted on a charge of making propaganda against the system. Nili said the sentence came after Mohammadi urged voters to boycott Iran's recent parliamentary election, sent letters to lawmakers in Europe, and made comments regarding torture and sexual assault suffered by another Iranian journalist and political activist.  Mohammadi is being held at Iran's notorious Evin Prison, which houses political prisoners and those with Western ties. She already had been serving a 30-month sentence, to which 15 more months were added in January. Iran's government has not acknowledged her additional sentencing.  The latest verdict reflects the Iranian theocracy's anger that she was awarded the Nobel Prize last October for years of activism despite a decades-long government campaign targeting her.  Mohammadi is the 19th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize and the second Iranian woman after human rights activist Shirin Ebadi in 2003. Mohammadi, 52, has kept up her activism despite numerous arrests by Iranian authorities and years behind bars.  In November, Mohammadi went on a hunger strike over being blocked, along with other inmates, from getting medical care and to protest the country's mandatory headscarves for women.  Mohammadi was a leading light for nationwide women-led protests, sparked by the 2022 death of a 22-year-old woman in police custody, that have grown into one of the most intense challenges to Iran's theocratic government. That woman, Mahsa Amini, had been detained for allegedly not wearing her headscarf to the liking of authorities.  For observant Muslim women, the head covering is a sign of piety before God and modesty in front of men outside their families. In Iran, the hijab — and the all-encompassing black chador worn by some — has long been a political symbol as well, particularly after becoming mandatory in the years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.  While women in Iran hold jobs, academic positions and even government appointments, their lives are tightly controlled, in part by laws like the mandatory hijab. Iran and neighboring Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are the only countries to mandate the headscarves. Since Amini's death, however, more women are choosing not to wear a hijab despite an increasing campaign by authorities targeting them and businesses serving them.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

OTTAWA — Canada is listing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and could investigate former senior Iranian officials living in the country, a senior Cabinet member said Wednesday. "Canada will use all possible tools to combat terrorist activities carried out by the IRGC," Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters, saying the announcement reflected "very strong and compelling evidence." The United States took a similar step in April 2019. Opposition legislators have long demanded the IRGC be listed, but the Liberal government had declined, saying to do so risked unintended consequences. LeBlanc, asked why their action took so long, said the decision had been taken based on the law and advice from security services, not as a result of political pressure. Canada already lists the IRGC's overseas arm, the Quds Force, as a terrorist group. Ottawa broke off diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2012. The IRGC, a powerful faction that controls a business empire as well as elite armed and intelligence forces in Iran, has been accused by Western nations of carrying out a global terrorist campaign. Iran rejects that accusation. "Current and former senior Iranian government officials who are in Canada may be investigated and removed," LeBlanc said. He did not give details on the identities and number of people this might include. Once a group is placed on the terror list, police can charge anyone who financially or materially supports the group, and banks can freeze assets. In October 2022, Canada said it would ban the IRGC's top leadership from entering the country and promised more targeted sanctions.