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Washington — The Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives demanded on Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fire his ambassador to the United States over Zelenskyy's trip this week to a factory in Pennsylvania. "I demand that you immediately fire Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova," Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a letter to Zelenskyy. Johnson released the letter a day before Zelenskyy was due to visit the U.S. Capitol in Washington for meetings with lawmakers. Johnson was not expected to meet with the Ukrainian leader. The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some Republicans have been fuming over Zelenskyy's visit earlier in his weeklong trip to the United States to an ammunition plant in President Joe Biden's hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is one of the swing states seen as crucial to victory in the November 5 presidential election. During the trip, Zelenskyy also met with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Bob Casey and U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright, who are all Democrats. Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, is the Democratic candidate running against Republican former President Donald Trump in the race for the White House. "The facility was in a politically contested battleground state, was led by a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris, and failed to include a single Republican because — on purpose — no Republicans were invited," Johnson wrote. "The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference," he said. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee had already announced that it would investigate whether Zelenskyy's trip was an attempt to use a foreign leader to benefit Harris' campaign. It is common practice for governors to meet with foreign leaders who travel to their states. In July, Zelenskyy visited a factory in Utah and was hosted by that state's Republican governor, Spencer Cox.

Windhoek, Namibia — The Namibian government is welcoming back nearly 100 Batswana of Herero descent to their ancestral land, marking a significant moment in the ongoing process of restorative justice for the descendants of those who fled German South West Africa — now Namibia — during the 1904-1908 genocide. Fleeing German aggression, many sought refuge in then Bechuanaland — what's now known as Botswana. As part of this effort, Namibia has made five commercial farms available for their resettlement, a step toward reconciliation and healing. John Kandjii and other elders of his clan have gathered at the Dobe Border Post, a transit area for immigration between Botswana and Namibia. His role today is the lighting of the "Holy Fire," where he calls upon the elders who have already departed the earthly realm to guide and protect them at this significant occasion which marks the return of the descendants of the Ovaherero who fled their ancestral land more than 120 years ago. "They were one — I am sure that they were one at that time — but now we are having borders, there is a difference," said Kandjii. "This is a different country; Namibia is alone, but communication they are together, those countries … you understand what I am saying." Kandjii explained to VOA how the formation of the Nation State and the Berlin Conference separated the Ovaherero from each other which could have been a good thing because the Ovaherero from Namibia had somewhere to flee to during the 1904-1908 genocide which decreased their population by an estimated 80%. Although Namibia was prepared to receive 98 returnees, only 50 crossed the border on Friday. Some are still waiting for the quarantine clearance for their livestock before they can cross the border. James Uerikua is the governor of the region where the returnees were received and where some will be relocated. "They will be settled in Otjozondjupa region, in Omaheke region and in the Hardap region because the government of the Republic of Namibia in preparation to receiving you brothers and sisters efforts were made at high level and a reception area was created at Gam measuring about 20 hectares," he said. The 20 hectares at Gam will be treated as a transit camp for returnees to adapt to life in Namibia before moving to the commercial farms they have been allocated by the government. At the settlement in Gam, the returnees will be issued hospital cards and proper identification documents. Their children will be placed into Namibian schools. Officials have promised that potable water, sewage and electricity will be available in Gam as soon as possible. Elizabet Cherneff contributed to thes story.

Washington — Congress on Wednesday passed a temporary measure that keeps government agencies funded into December, avoiding a shutdown for now while punting final spending decisions until after the Nov. 5 election. The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 78-18 shortly after the House easily approved it. The bill generally funds agencies at current levels through Dec. 20. But an additional $231 million was included to bolster the Secret Service after the two assassination attempts against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Money was also added to aid with the presidential transition, among other things. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden's desk to be signed into law. “This bipartisanship is a good outcome for America,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said moments before the vote. “I hope it sets the tone for more constructive, bipartisan work when we return in the fall.” House Speaker Mike Johnson billed the measure as doing “only what's absolutely necessary," a statement directed at members of his own conference concerned about spending levels. Still, it was a no-go for some Republicans, which forced House Republican leadership to rely on Democratic votes to pass the bill through a process that requires at least two-thirds support from voting members. Johnson said the only alternative to the continuing resolution at this stage would have been a government shutdown. “It would be political malpractice to shut the government down," Johnson said. "I think everyone understands that.” The House floor was largely empty during debate on the measure. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, was the lone critic speaking out, saying, “We end up in a vicious circle every year, the same vicious circle.” Lawmakers in both chambers are anxious to return to their home states and districts to campaign, smoothing the path for passage of a temporary funding fix. But more arduous fiscal negotiations await them at the end of the year. Under terms of a previous deal to avoid a federal default and allow the government to continue paying its bills, spending for defense and nondefense programs would rise 1% next year. The Senate has been charting a course to go above that level, while House Republicans have been voting for steep cuts to many nondefense programs, and they have attached policy mandates to the spending bills that Democrats overwhelmingly oppose. So a final agreement will be difficult to reach. In the meantime, the temporary bill will mostly fund the government at current levels, with a few exceptions like the funding infusion for the Secret Service. The $231 million for the Secret Service does come with strings attached. It's contingent upon the agency complying with congressional oversight. The bill also allows the Secret Service to spend its allocations faster if needed. “Everybody understands that's critically important right now,” Johnson said of the Secret Service money. Trump thanked lawmakers for the extra Secret Service funding at a campaign event Wednesday. He had earlier called on Republicans not to move forward on a spending bill without also including a requirement that people provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote. That legislation failed in the House last week. In a recent letter, the Secret Service told lawmakers that a funding shortfall was not the reason for lapses in Trump’s security when a gunman climbed onto an unsecured roof on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and opened fire. But acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr., also made clear the agency had “immediate needs” and that he’s talking to Congress. “The Secret Service has asked for this additional funding. It's absolutely essential as they deal with the increased threat environment,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. The continuing resolution is needed because Congress is nowhere close to completing work on the dozen annual appropriations bills that fund much of the federal government. The House has passed five of the 12 bills, mostly along party lines. The Senate has passed zero. Republicans blame the current impasse on Senate Democrats for not putting the dozen appropriations bills on the Senate floor for a vote, where they then could be reconciled with the House bills during negotiations. But Democrats counter that House Republicans are acting in bad faith, bogging the process down by undercutting an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated with the White House over spending caps for the 2024 and 2025 budget years. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democratic member of the House Appropriations Committee, said her party will accept nothing less than the 1% increase specified in that agreement. Also, if Republicans seek more than that for defense, there must be “dollar for dollar parity for nondefense," she said. “We know where we have to end up. And it is my hope that this bill will provide the bipartisan momentum needed to get there,” DeLauro said. The White House called on both chambers to pass the stopgap bill, while cautioning that it did not provide adequate funding to help communities recover from natural disasters and failed to include enough funding for health care provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Johnson warned that when the new extension expires in December, he will not support a massive, catchall bill to fund the government, referred to as an omnibus, so another stopgap may be needed that would allow the new president and Congress to have the final say on fiscal year 2025 spending levels. “I have no intention of going back to that terrible tradition,” Johnson said. Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, urged House Republicans not to “follow the loudest voices on the far right” in the spending negotiations for the full-year bill. “You cannot strike a deal to govern with people who do not really want to govern," Murray said.

In Omdurman, Sudan's second most populous city, the once-thriving market has been all but destroyed by almost a year and a half of war. VOA gained rare access to the city and met residents who recalled its former glory as fighting raged in the capital, Khartoum, on the opposite bank of the Nile. Henry Wilkins reports.

NEW YORK — Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille said on Wednesday that the Caribbean country was a long way from winning its war against armed gangs that control most of the capital, as a United Nations deadline for long-delayed support fast approaches. "We are nowhere near winning this, and the simple reality is that we won't without your help," Conille said at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. "There is a sense of urgency because the Haitian people are watching with cautious optimism, they're really hoping to see clear results," he said. Haiti is currently facing a gang attack at the capital's main port, Conille said, the key entry point for funding and goods. A shipping official told Reuters this week that ships were being shot at, preventing them from docking and unloading containers, while authorities have reported the kidnapping of two Filipino crew members from a cargo vessel in the port. Haiti's main seaports and international airport closed for nearly three months earlier this year after violence escalated at the end of February, an outbreak that saw thousands broken out of prison and the last prime minister resign. "We worry that without the urgent implication of everyone to support this effort, we will lose the little success that we've been able to obtain at a very large price," Conille said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier announced sanctions against former deputy Prophane Victor and gang leader Luckson Elan for their role in human rights abuses, as well as $160 million in assistance for Haiti, and called for further support of the U.N.-backed international security mission. About 10 countries have together pledged over 3,100 troops, but only around 400 have deployed. The U.N.'s one-year mandate expires in early October and the U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Sept. 30 on whether to renew it. While countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, both the U.N. mission trust fund and humanitarian plan remain drastically underfunded. Musalia Mudavadi, an official from Kenya, which is leading the mission, said the current funds were not enough to sustain the current deployment, let alone the thousands of troops that were promised. "We encourage all the countries that have pledged troops to move with speed," he said. The number of people internally displaced has nearly doubled in the last six months, according to U.N. estimates, now surpassing 700,000. Around half the country is going hungry. Conille's government is also tasked with arranging the first elections since 2016. His predecessor repeatedly delayed a vote, saying a free and fair process could not take place under the existing insecurity. The United States, the mission's top financial backer, has pushed for elections by next year. Conille said that while far more security was needed, Haiti is already investing half of an estimated $140 million needed to hold a referendum on the Constitution in February and elections in November 2025. Conille said he was "quite confident" that they would be able to hold the votes despite the insecurity but warned that this would not be possible if commitments enabling the mission's full deployment are not kept. 

nairobi, kenya — A report commissioned by the Mastercard Foundation says that increasing women's participation in Africa's formal workforce could boost the continent's economy by approximately $287 billion by 2030, boosting GDP by 5 percent. The report, Young Women in Africa: Agents of Economic Growth and Transformation by 2030, was conducted in collaboration with the McKinsey & Company consulting firm. Released last week, it examines the impact, challenges and contributions of women in the African labor force. The report says young women are important contributors to the African economy, yet their role has been trending downward. Women's contribution to Africa's GDP declined from 18 percent in 2000 to just 11 percent in 2022, the report says.      Marguerita Bagulo is one of the millions of women employed in and contributing to the growth of African economies. She works as a customer service representative for a company in Ghana. She says her company promotes gender equality and that women fight for their jobs. “I was lucky to be in a place where your gender is not really a problem," Bagulo said. "And it’s great, because we are given the same opportunity that our male counterparts are being given, and that, in turn, gives us the opportunity to stand up for ourselves and better ourselves in order to compete on the same level as our male counterparts.” In Namibia, despite government policies aimed at increasing women's participation in the economic sector, their participation rate has risen only 2 percentage points, to 42 percent, over five years, according to the report. The report notes 10 countries, most from eastern and western Africa, have the potential to achieve faster economic growth if they prioritize gender equality. However, persistent obstacles continue to keep many women out of the labor force. Wacu Mureithi, an entrepreneur in Kenya, says she could not continue with her hair product business because of family commitments. “Business is hard for everyone, man and woman, but I think a woman has a bigger challenge, because sometimes, looking for business opportunities, you are trading for sexual favors instead of doing the work," Mureithi says. "But my biggest problem has been balancing trying to be mum and dad and at the same time being an entrepreneur. I felt I was losing on parenting, because I was busy with meetings all the time." Mureithi has returned to a university to pursue further studies to better her life and that of her family. Samuel Nyandemo, a lecturer on economics at the University of Nairobi, says more girls and women are enrolling in universities to increase their chances of joining the labor force, which is dominated by men. “What they are mostly doing, they are in the hospitality industry, and some are in the managerial sector," he says. "In any case, you can see now when it comes to enrollment in universities, the number is now increasing, which means that in terms of job skills, they are acquiring a lot of job skills that are empowering them to spearhead most of the management positions within African economies.”  The Mastercard Foundation says private sector-led approaches, such as investing in after-school care led by young women, could create 3.2 million jobs. The researchers say women also need government-funded initiatives to expand centers to improve child care initiatives, while the private sector can help by offering technical support, resources and low-interest loans. At least 26 percent of girls complete their secondary education, but unpaid care work keeps 35 percent to 40 percent of women from employment, the report notes. It says that in 2021, 66 percent of women lacked access to a bank account, while 13 percent had access to formal credit, versus 16 percent for men. Lower access to financial services for women is blamed on the types of businesses run by women, which are seen as paying less and lacking income stability.     Nyandemo says governments need to create programs that make it easier for women to participate in the economic sector. “There should be affirmative action that spearheads the aspect of gender equality," he says. "Create more opportunities for women and empower them both economically and politically, and more so, invest heavily in training them in various small-scale business enterprises. Equip them with entrepreneurial skills and management skills.” The Mastercard Foundation plans to invest $360 million to help more than 70,000 young women and girls complete their education, start businesses and find job opportunities.

HELSINKI — A zoo in Finland has agreed with Chinese authorities to return two loaned giant pandas to China more than eight years ahead of schedule because they have become too expensive for the facility to maintain as the number of visitors has declined. The private Ahtari Zoo in central Finland some 330 kilometers north of Helsinki said Wednesday on its Facebook page that the female panda Lumi, Finnish for "snow," and the male panda Pyry, meaning "snowfall," will return "prematurely" to China later this year. The panda pair was China's gift to mark the Nordic nation's 100 years of independence in 2017, and they were supposed to be on loan until 2033. But since then, the zoo has experienced several challenges, including a decline in visitors due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and Russia's war against Ukraine, as well as an increase in inflation and interest rates, the facility said in a statement. The panda deal between Helsinki and Beijing, a 15-year loan agreement, had been finalized in April 2017 when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Finland for talks with then-Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. The pandas arrived in Finland in January 2018. The Ahtari Zoo, which specializes in typical northern European animals such as bears, lynxes and wolverines, built a special annex at a cost of about $9 million in hopes of luring more tourists to the remote nature reserve. The upkeep of Lumi and Pyry, including a preservation fee to China, cost the zoo $1.7 million annually. The bamboo that giant pandas eat was flown in from the Netherlands. The Chinese Embassy in Helsinki noted to Finnish media that Beijing had tried to help Ahtari solve its financial difficulties by urging Chinese companies operating in Finland to make donations to the zoo and supporting its debt arrangements. However, declining visitor numbers combined with drastic changes in the economic environment proved too high a burden for the smallish Finnish zoo. The panda pair will enter a monthlong quarantine in late October before being shipped back to China. Finland, a country of 5.6 million people, was among the first Western nations to establish political ties with China, doing so in 1950. China has presented giant pandas to countries as a sign of goodwill and closer political ties, and Finland was the first Nordic nation to receive them.

A look at the ongoing UNGA in New York, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy makes his case to the Security Council as Russia’s attacks continue. Israel and Hezbollah continue to push each other closer to the brink of war, but where does Hezbollah’s support come from? Sri Lanka’s first female Prime Minister in 24 years is sworn in. And Prince Harry in New York for the annual Climate Week.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis took the unusual decision Wednesday to expel 10 people — a bishop, priests and laypeople — from a troubled Catholic movement in Peru after a Vatican investigation uncovered "sadistic" abuses of power, authority and spirituality. The move against the leadership of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, or Sodalitium of Christian Life, followed Francis' decision last month to expel the group's founder, Luis Figari, after he was found to have sodomized his recruits. The decision was announced by the Peruvian Bishops Conference, which posted a statement from the Vatican embassy on its website. The statement was astonishing because it listed the abuses uncovered by the Vatican investigation that have rarely been punished canonically with such measures, and the people responsible. According to the statement, the Vatican investigators uncovered physical abuses "including with sadism and violence," sect-like abuses of conscience, spiritual abuse, abuses of authority, economic abuses in administering church money and the "abuse in the exercise of the apostolate of journalism." The latter was presumably aimed at a Sodalitium-linked journalist who has attacked critics of the movement on social media. Figari founded the movement in 1971 as a lay community to recruit "soldiers for God," one of several Catholic societies born as a conservative reaction to the left-leaning liberation theology movement that swept through Latin America, starting in the 1960s. At its height, the group counted about 20,000 members across South America and the United States. It was enormously influential in Peru. Victims of Figari's abuses complained to the Lima archdiocese in 2011, although other claims against him reportedly date to 2000. But neither the local church nor the Holy See took concrete action until one of the victims, Pedro Salinas, wrote a book along with journalist Paola Ugaz detailing the twisted practices of the Sodalitium in 2015, entitled "Half Monks, Half Soldiers." An outside investigation ordered by Sodalitium determined that Figari was "narcissistic, paranoid, demeaning, vulgar, vindictive, manipulative, racist, sexist, elitist and obsessed with sexual issues and the sexual orientation" of Sodalitium's members. The investigation, published in 2017, found that Figari sodomized his recruits and forced them to fondle him and one another. He liked to watch them "experience pain, discomfort and fear" and humiliated them in front of others to enhance his control over them, the report found. Still, the Holy See declined to expel Figari from the movement in 2017 and merely ordered him to live apart from the Sodalitium community in Rome and cease all contact with it. The Vatican was seemingly tied in knots by canon law that did not foresee such punishments for founders of religious communities who weren't priests. But according to the findings of the latest Vatican investigation, the abuses went beyond Figari and included harassing and hacking the communications of their victims all the while covering up crimes committed as part of their official duties. The highest-ranking person ordered expelled was Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren, whom Francis already forced to resign as bishop of Piura in April over his record, after he sued Salinas and Ugaz for their reporting. The Vatican, in the statement, said the Peruvian bishops join Pope Francis in "seeking the forgiveness of the victims" while calling on the troubled movement to initiate a journey of justice and reparation.

Early voting for the U.S. presidential election in the state of Georgia begins October 15. Polls show a close contest there between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Atlanta, Georgia.

WASHINGTON — An executive at cybersecurity company CrowdStrike apologized in testimony to Congress for sparking a global technology outage over the summer.  "We let our customers down," said Adam Meyers, who leads CrowdStrike's threat intelligence division, in a hearing before a U.S. House cybersecurity subcommittee Tuesday.  Austin, Texas-based CrowdStrike has blamed a bug in an update that allowed its cybersecurity systems to push bad data out to millions of customer computers, setting off a global tech outage in July that grounded flights, took TV broadcasts off air and disrupted banks, hospitals and retailers.  "Everywhere Americans turned, basic societal functions were unavailable," House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green said. "We cannot allow a mistake of this magnitude to happen again."  The Tennessee Republican likened the impact of the outage to an attack "we would expect to be carefully executed by a malicious and sophisticated nation-state actor."  "We're deeply sorry and we are determined to prevent this from ever happening again," Meyers told lawmakers while laying out the technical missteps that led to the outage of about 8.5 million computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system.  Meyers said he wanted to "underscore that this was not a cyberattack" but was, instead, caused by a faulty "rapid-response content update" focused on addressing new threats. The company has since bolstered its content update procedures, he said.  The company still faces a number of lawsuits from people and businesses that were caught up in July's mass outage. 

MADRID — Jesus Medina used a fake identity to flee from Venezuela to Colombia by walking across the border like thousands of compatriots. A journalist for Dolar Today, an independent online publication in Venezuela, Medina said he was persecuted by the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for six years. He was imprisoned for nearly three years between 2017 and 2020 in a high-security military jail awaiting trial. Last year, a court absolved Medina of charges of inciting hate, a charge that is often leveled at journalists. However, after Medina was cleared, he said the government ordered that he face a retrial. He denied all charges. At this point, he decided he had to leave his country, his girlfriend and family behind. Medina arrived in Bogota, Colombia, on September 15 to begin a new life. He currently is searching for work and a permanent place to live. His story is typical of other journalists who have left Venezuela in the wake of a crackdown by the Maduro government against the media and political activists after disputed presidential elections on July 28. Several journalists have been detained, while others face travel bans. Reporters covering politics are looking for innovative ways to stay under the radar and keep covering the news. Two AI journalists, called La Chama or “The Girl,” and El Pana (Venezuelan slang for “friend”), were created as part of Operation Retweet by Colombian organization Connectas, Reuters reported. The initiative aims to publish news from a dozen independent Venezuelan media outlets and to help protect reporters amid a government crackdown on journalists and protesters. Electoral officials and Venezuela’s top court declared Maduro the winner of the election with 52% of the vote, Reuters reported. But the opposition says voting machine receipts show a landslide victory for their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, who fled to exile in Spain. Some Western governments, including the United States, have alleged electoral fraud. A United Nations report last week alleged escalating government repression since the election, including the arrest of minors. The Venezuelan government rejected the claims. The Venezuelan government in Caracas and its embassy in Madrid did not respond to VOA requests for comment on Medina’s case nor on repression of the independent media. 'Repression has gotten worse’ Medina, 42, who works for Dolar Today, an online independent newspaper that reports on national and international news and sports, has been a reporter for 14 years. “The repression has gotten worse since the election in July,’’ he told VOA by telephone from Bogota. ‘’It has been brutal. They are arresting more people. They [the government] cannot bear that the opposition won the election. It is a dictatorship.” Luis Gonzalo Perez, a Venezuelan journalist who was part of the press team covering opposition leader Maria Corina Machado during the election campaign, went into exile recently after what he claimed were “repeated threats” from the Venezuelan government and its secret services. “Hello to my family, friends, followers who have been paying attention to my work in the last few months in Venezuela,” Perez said in a message posted on Instagram. “I had to make the decision to leave Venezuela. I find myself in exile like millions of Venezuelans. This was never in my life plans, personal or work plans, to have to leave under force, against my will.” Clavel Rangel, a Venezuelan journalist, went into exile in Miami in 2020 when she was accused of libel over articles she wrote with another journalist about the metal sector in southern Venezuela. She said the latest crackdown against the media marks a new level of repression against independent journalists on the part of the government. “For the first time, Maduro’s government decided to steal a competitive election, and this was marked by a new level of repression at all levels, where the media did not escape the crackdown,” Rangel told VOA. “They entered a new era of totalitarianism after years of autocracy because it is the only way to maintain power.” Rangel said 16 journalists currently were under arrest in Venezuela, with nine detentions coming after the election. “The moment marks a clear ‘before and after’ in the timeline in the repression against the press,” she said. Rangel noted research by the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, a nongovernmental organization that monitors the media in Venezuela, that showed about 350 journalists had left the country in recent years. ‘Constant and ruthless attacks’ Carleth Morales, founder of the association of Venezuelan journalists in Spain, Espana Venezuelan Press, told VOA that journalists had been leaving the country since Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, came to power in 1999. “We have undergone about 25 years of constant and ruthless attacks on media freedom. The Venezuelan Nacional College of Journalists said more than 400 media have closed in the past two decades,” Morales said.  “We don’t have a free press or jobs in the sector. The online media, which are a reference in journalism, are led by exiled journalists.” In 2000, Morales said, Chavez first started threatening the media, marking “a macabre line of self-censorship” and leading to the first wave of exiles. In 2004-2005, with the government’s passing of the Law of Social Responsibility in Radio and Television, a large number of reporters left the country because of the censorship and the threats of jail, she said. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Press Association considered the legislation to be a “gag law” that violated the freedom of the media. In 2007, Morales said another wave of journalists went into exile after the government tightened control of television channels. When the media covered 2014 citizens’ protests, several journalists were arrested and foreign journalists were expelled, she said. In Spain, the largest wave of Venezuelan journalists arrived in 2015, and this rose again in 2017, Morales said, after further waves of repression against the media following their reports about opposition protests and interviews with government critics and independent analysts.

Geneva — As Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine grinds on for a third year, a United Nations report says all dissenting voices in the Russian Federation have been muzzled, civic and political rights have been shut down, and the human rights situation in the country “has significantly worsened.” “The country is now governed by a state-sponsored system of fear and punishment including the use of torture, with absolute impunity,” Mariana Katzarova, who monitors rights in Russia under a mandate from the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, said Tuesday. Katzarova said civil and political freedoms in Russia have become further restricted since she submitted her first report to the council more than a year ago. “The severity of the government’s human rights violations has escalated, and its tools expanded to suppress dissent against its repressive domestic policy and war-driven foreign policy,” she said. As with last year’s report, Katzarova noted that she was obliged to gather information for this year’s 23-page report from a range of sources inside and outside the Russian Federation. Despite repeated requests, she said she was not granted access to Russia, “which would have allowed a dialogue with the government and other stakeholders and enabled the reflection of their position in this report.” The report paints a chilling picture of a dystopian society in which Russian citizens are not free to express their views, state-driven human rights violations are legalized by new or amended legislation, public anti-war expression or dissent of any kind is criminalized, the use of violence by law enforcement is condoned, and “an environment of absolute impunity has been created.” 'War censorship' Under Russia’s so-called “war censorship” legislation, Katzarova noted that hundreds of people who “dare to speak the truth” about what is happening in the war against Ukraine have been prosecuted, given long prison sentences and subjected to the “crippling financial punishment” of having property and assets confiscated. The report says at least 1,372 human rights defenders, journalists and anti-war critics have been detained on politically motivated charges and sentenced “in sham trials to lengthy imprisonment, often with treatment amounting to torture.” While Russian authorities have intensified their crackdown on these “traditional sources of opposition,” Katzarova said poets, playwrights, artists, religious figures, indigenous groups, migrants, and those who’ve fled abroad are often targeted with “harsh censorship, intimidation and prosecution for any perceived transgression.” “Of particular concern is the evidence of state-condoned violence and torture against civilians arrested for peacefully exercising their human rights,” she said. “Brutal assaults of detainees by law enforcement officials go unpunished; there is increased use of solitary confinement in prisons and other deliberate ill-treatment amounting to torture.” The report spells out in searing detail the many human rights violations and state-condoned discriminatory policies used by the state to intimidate, harass and punish vulnerable groups, including women and girls, LGBTQ persons, indigenous peoples, minorities and migrants. “The risk of severe punishment for any form of public dissent is very high, particularly for individuals and groups vulnerable to discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, political opinion, religion, indigenous status or minority background,” says the report, which devotes a long section to the wide range of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law precipitated by the ongoing war against Ukraine. Ukraine-related violations It expresses particular concern about Ukrainian civilians held in arbitrary detention because “Russian authorities do not provide information about their number, fate or whereabouts, and many are subjected to enforced disappearance.” The report says at least 1,672 Ukrainian civilians are known to have been arbitrarily detained by Russian authorities and kept “in penal colonies, pretrial detention centers and temporary makeshift tent camps” located throughout Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. It also says an estimated 14,000 Ukrainian civilians are missing. The report documents the plight of captured military and civilian Ukrainians, including children, who have been forcibly transferred or deported to the Russian Federation. According to the Ukrainian government, 19,546 children were forcibly transferred to Russian-occupied Crimea or deported to Russia or Belarus as of the end of July 2024; 388 have been returned. The whereabouts and fate of the thousands of other children remains unknown, though some are believed to have been given up for adoption by Russian families. The report notes that some of the returned children who were interviewed said they “were subjected to sexual violence during their time in Russian institutions and some experienced or witnessed physical violence and threats against children by the staff.” Last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for “the war crimes of unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” Katzarova told council members that “The Russian authorities must bring to justice all those responsible for this torture and ill-treatment and immediately and unconditionally release all Ukrainian detainees, ensuring their safe return, especially of children. “As special rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Russian Federation, I will continue to call for accountability for these crimes,” she said. It is a call likely to be ignored by Russia, which boycotted the meeting and did not respond as a concerned country.

ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban confirmed Wednesday that they have formally sought to join the upcoming Russia-hosted summit of the BRICS intergovernmental group of major emerging economies. The leaders of the 10 members of BRICS, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, are set to convene October 22-24 in the southwestern Russian city of Kazan for the meeting. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the bloc this year. “BRICS is an important economic forum, and as a developing economy, Afghanistan needs to join such economic gatherings,” Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy Taliban spokesperson, stated in a video message aired by their official broadcaster. “The Islamic Emirate is seeking a presence at the upcoming BRICS forum, and the request has been formally communicated to the host nation,” Fitrat stated, using the official title of their government in Kabul, which is officially not recognized by any country. He shared no further details. There has been no immediate Russian response to the Taliban’s assertion. Moscow has developed close informal ties with the de facto Afghan leaders since they retook control of the conflict-ravaged nation three years ago, when the United States-led Western countries withdrew their troops after almost two decades of war with the then-insurgent Taliban. However, Russia has not recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government in alignment with the global consensus on the issue of recognition. Taliban delegations have repeatedly visited Moscow in recent months for bilateral economic and trade discussions. The Russian foreign and justice ministries submitted a proposal to President Vladimir Putin in June to remove the radical Afghan group from Russia’s list of designated terrorist organizations. The move prompted speculations that Moscow has come closer to officially recognizing the de facto Kabul authorities.       The Taliban have been on Russia’s list of transnational militant groups, which includes al-Qaida, since 2003. The de facto Afghan leaders have implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law, known as sharia, in the impoverished South Asian nation, prohibiting Afghan girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade, suspending female students from universities, barring women from most workplaces, and banning music. The Taliban also have introduced stoning and public executions of women for crimes such as adultery. The U.N. and other nations The international community, including the United Nations, has consistently called for the urgent reversal of restrictions on women before considering granting diplomatic legitimacy to the Taliban regime. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week that the Taliban's treatment of women can be compared to "some of the most egregious systems of oppression in recent history.” "We will continue to amplify the voices of Afghan women and call for them to play a full role in the country's life, both inside its borders and on the global stage," he said. U.N. officials maintain that last month’s enactment of a morality law by the Taliban has made it even more challenging to recognize Kabul rulers. Taliban leaders reject criticism of their governance, saying it is aligned with local culture and sharia. “It means that one of the major obstacles to Afghanistan’s full reintegration into the international community cannot be part of a necessary dialogue,” Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, told a Security Council meeting last week.   China and the Taliban China has also ramped up its political and economic ties with Kabul and is one of two countries, along with the United Arab Emirates, that have formally accepted a Taliban-appointed ambassador. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news conference that Beijing expects the Taliban to “look at the legitimate concerns” of the global community. “That said, women’s rights and interests are not the entirety of the Afghan issue, nor the core or root cause of the issue,” Lin said. He referenced the U.N. estimates stating that almost 24 million people in Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance, with more than half of them battling severe food insecurity. “The international community needs to focus on the most pressing difficulties Afghanistan faces, promote the rebuilding and development in Afghanistan … and at the same time encourage, in the spirit of equality and respect, the governing authorities of Afghanistan to improve and strengthen protection of women and children’s rights,” Lin stated. Chinese companies have signed several agreements with the Taliban to enhance economic and trade cooperation, focusing mainly on the Afghan mining sector. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told a news conference in Kabul last week that his government controlled about 40 Afghan embassies and consulates worldwide, and that its diplomatic relations with the international community were improving. He stated that the Taliban are keen to develop “friendly” ties with Western nations. The U.S. and the West at large insist that formal recognition of the Taliban depends on their actions regarding women's rights, education for girls and women and freedom of movement.

Nairobi — As cases of mpox rise across the African continent, public health experts and world leaders are sounding the alarm, saying more needs to be done to contain the viral outbreak. Fifteen countries in Africa are assessed as having active outbreaks, with Morocco being the latest to report a case. Samuel Boland, mpox incident manager for the World Health Organization regional office for Africa, said that while the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi account for almost 90 percent of confirmed cases, more instances are popping up in other countries. "DRC, Burundi [are] especially affected but also Cameroon, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Cote D'Ivoire, Republic of Congo, Liberia, Uganda, Kenya, Gabon, Rwanda, South Africa and Guinea," he told VOA, speaking from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo.   The WHO says two distinct clades, or strains, have been identified. Clade I was formerly known as the Congo Basin clade, and Clade II was formerly West African clade.  Previously known as monkeypox, the viral disease can spread through close contact between people, according to the World Health Organization, and occasionally via objects and areas touched by a person with mpox.  Signs and symptoms include fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes.   Boland said there have been 6,580 confirmed cases so far this year, but there's a bigger number of suspected cases. Suspected cases are clinically compatible with mpox but may not have been tested due to various limitations in several countries. That number has climbed to nearly 32,000.  "Now amongst that large number of suspected cases, 844 people have died. But when focusing on the confirmed cases this year as in from the first of January, 32 people have, unfortunately, passed away," Boland said. In a virtual briefing last week, Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said mpox is not under control in Africa. He said that while vaccine donations are trickling in, the amount is insufficient to contain the outbreak.  "Today, we have almost around 4 million commitments of doses, but we say we need more," Kaseya said.  U.S. President Joe Biden, in an address to world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24, 2024, highlighted the need to “move quickly” to confront the mpox outbreak in Africa.   "We're prepared to commit $500 million to help African countries prevent and respond to mpox and to donate 1 million doses of mpox vaccine now," he said.  No specific date was given as to when the vaccines will arrive in Africa, but Biden said the investments will be delivered bilaterally, through existing relationships with partner countries, as well as through multilateral institutions.   In addition to vaccines, Boland said this mpox outbreak requires interventions across the full spectrum of the public health sector. He said the world needs to scale up and make sure it can deliver in several areas.   "Things like surveillance, which will include case investigation and contact tracing — both going out into communities and looking for cases,” he said. “Also engaging and encouraging communities to report cases when people become unwell."   He said this approach includes infection prevention and control, case management and vaccination. 

Washington — On Wednesday, China’s commerce ministry said it “firmly opposes” the United States’ proposed ban on the sale of connected vehicles that use Chinese or Russian software and hardware technology.  Most new vehicles are considered to be “connected” because they can share data with other vehicles and infrastructure with the help of onboard software, hardware and internet access.   The U.S. warns that data collected by Chinese or Russian software in connected and autonomous vehicles could pose a threat to national security.  A spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Commerce said the proposed U.S. ban has no “factual basis, violates the principles of market economy and fair competition, and is a typical protectionist act.”    “China urges the United States to stop its wrong practice of generalizing national security, immediately revoke the relevant restrictions, and stop its unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies,” according to a ministry statement.  The proposed rule is the latest example of the deteriorating relationship between Washington and Beijing.    In February, the Biden Administration said it would probe Chinese cars that pose a risk to national security. The U.S. Department of Commerce said it opened the probe because vehicles “collect large amounts of sensitive data on their drivers and passengers (and) regularly use their cameras and sensors to record detailed information on U.S. infrastructure.”  The Biden Administration also implemented a 100% tariff on Chinese-made EVs earlier this month, citing unfair business practices and the potential for Chinese EVs to flood international markets.  The new proposed prohibition on connected vehicles applies both to the software and hardware that link vehicles to the outside world. It did not specify which manufacturers are likely to be impacted by the rule, which will be finalized after a 30-day period for public comment.   In a press release Tuesday, the Coalition for a Prosperous America, or CPA, voiced its support for the proposed ban.  “For years, the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] has aggressively pursued global dominance in the automotive industry building tremendous overcapacity to dominate their home market and to displace auto manufacturing worldwide,” said the CEO of CPA, Michael Stumo.  “The Commerce Department’s proposed ban on this technology is an important measure to protect our automotive sector and secure Americans’ sensitive information,” he added.  China’s commerce ministry also condemned the U.S. on Wednesday for its newly proposed ban and tariffs implemented earlier this month, saying Washington placed "high tariffs on Chinese cars, restricted participation in government procurement, and introduced discriminatory subsidy policies."   “Now, on the grounds of so-called national security, it [Washington] has slandered Chinese connected car software, hardware and complete vehicles as 'unsafe' and restricted their use in the United States,” a ministry statement said.  Some information for this report came from  Agence France-Presse.   

A volunteer group is searching for the remains of people killed in the conflict with Russia in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The group Platsdarm says it has recovered around 2,000 bodies since 2014. Yaroslava Movchan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Videographer: Dmytro Hlushko