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WASHINGTON — The western Balkan countries are starkly split between the West and Russia, with the once-strong support for European Union accession now shrinking, according to a recent poll by the International Republican Institute.  The results of the February-March poll, which the Washington-based research group conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, comes as the region faces renewed ethnic tensions amid an EU enlargement slowdown and a rise in pro-Russian sentiment.   The poll found that overwhelming majorities in Albania and Kosovo want their countries to pursue an unequivocally pro-European Union and pro-Western course, while only 10 percent of the respondents in Serbia gave the same response.   A majority of the Serbs polled indicated they want Serbia either to maintain ties to Russia or pursue a pro-Russian foreign policy.  The poll found that 39 percent of Bosnians, 36 percent of Montenegrins and 31 percent of North Macedonians support an unequivocally pro-Western course.   “Generally, the pro-Western trend in the region is strong, with a couple of notable exceptions,” Paul McCarthy, the International Republican Institute’s director for Europe, told Voice of America. ''Serbia goes against the grain of the other five countries in the region; it is more pro-Russian, blames the West for the conflict in Ukraine, has very low approval ratings for joining the European Union.”   McCarthy said that the pro-Western tendencies have also softened in Montenegro and North Macedonia, despite their having become NATO members, as well as in Bosnia, where Turkey has replaced the United States as the key ally of Bosnian Muslims.  Serbs also oppose NATO membership: Only 3 percent of the poll’s respondents in Serbia said they supported it.   “People are losing patience with the wait to join the European Union. Part of this is also explained by the fact that Ukraine has been invited and other countries, whereas in most cases western Balkans countries have been waiting for over two decades in the line to join the European Union,” said McCarthy. “Support for the EU accession is beginning to soften around the edges in those countries where it was very, very strong.”  Still, the International Republican Institute’s poll found that, with the exception of Serbia, resounding majorities in the five Balkan countries would still vote for joining the EU. In Serbia, 40 percent of the poll’s respondents said that they would vote in favor of EU membership, while 34 percent would vote against it and 17 percent would not vote.  McCarthy said anti-EU attitude in Serbia is fostered by its government, which uses media to encourage people to abandon EU membership hopes and “emphasize relationships with foreign authoritarian actors such as Russia and China.”  The western Balkans’ geopolitical splits were also evident in the poll of respondents’ attitudes toward Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  The poll found that 43 percent of Serbs, 27 percent of Macedonians and 25 percent of Montenegrins blame the West for the war between Russia and Ukraine.  Majorities of the respondents in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia said that Russia’s actions in Ukraine are “somewhat” or “completely” unjustified, a view shared by 37 percent of the respondents in Serbia.  Who counts as an ally and who as a foe?  Longstanding disagreements and ethnic disputes continue to cast a shadow over the western Balkans more than three decades after Yugoslavia’s disintegration led to bloody wars.  Eighty-three percent of Kosovars view Serbia, which rejects Kosovo’s independence, as a threat, while 68 percent of Albanians in Albania view Serbia and Russia as the main danger for their country.   Majorities in Kosovo and Albania view the United States, which is credited for leading the 78-day NATO intervention in 1998-1999 to stop Serbia’s ethnic cleansing of Kosovo’s Albanian majority, as their countries’ key ally.   In Bosnia, Turkey is viewed as the biggest ally and Serbia as the biggest threat, while 34 percent of Macedonians see Serbia as their main ally while viewing Bulgaria, which has blocked Macedonia’s EU accession path, as their top foe.  In Montenegro, 32 percent of the International Republican Institute’s poll respondents named Serbia as their country’s most important ally while 19 percent named the United States as its most important threat. In Serbia, 36 percent of the respondents named the U.S. as the country’s main threat and Russia as its key ally.

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Washington — The U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for a sixth straight meeting on Wednesday, keeping the level at a 23-year high to fight stubborn price increases.  At the end of a two-day meeting, central bank policymakers decided unanimously that the Fed would keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50 percent, citing a "lack of further progress" toward its 2 percent inflation target.  "The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks," said the Fed in a statement.  For months, the U.S. central bank has maintained interest rates at an elevated level to cool demand and rein in price increases — with a slowdown in inflation last year fueling optimism that the first cuts were on the horizon.  But price increases have accelerated, throwing cold water on hopes of a summer rate cut.  The Fed also announced on Wednesday that, starting in June, it would slow the pace of decline of its securities holdings, by "reducing the monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $60 billion to $25 billion."  As hope dwindles for rate reductions in the first half of the year, the Fed faces a growing possibility that eventual cuts will coincide with the run-up to November's presidential election.  The timeline may prove uncomfortable given that the Fed, as the independent U.S. central bank, seeks to avoid any appearance of politicization. 

Port-au-Prince, Haiti — A surprise announcement that revealed Haiti's new prime minister is threatening to fracture a recently installed transitional council tasked with choosing new leaders for the gang-riddled Caribbean country. Four of seven council members with voting powers said Tuesday that they had chosen Fritz Belizaire as prime minister, taking many Haitians aback with their declaration and unexpected political alliance. The council members who oppose Belizaire, who served as Haiti's sports minister during the second presidency of Rene Preval from 2006 to 2011, are now weighing options including fighting the decision or resigning from the council. A person with direct knowledge of the situation who did not want to be identified because negotiations are ongoing said the council's political accord had been violated by the unexpected move and that some council members are considering other choices as potential prime minister. The council on Tuesday was scheduled to hold an election and choose its president. But two hours and a profuse apology later, one council member said that not only had a council president been chosen, but a prime minister as well. Murmurs rippled through the room. The Montana Accord, a civil society group represented by a council member with voting powers, denounced in a statement late Tuesday what it called a "complot" hatched by four council members against the Haitian people "in the middle of the night." "The political and economic mafia forces have decided to take control of the presidential council and the government so that they can continue to control the state," the Montana Accord said. Haitian politics have long been characterized by secretive dealings, but many worry the country cannot afford further political instability as gangs lay siege to the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond. "People change parties (like) they're changing their shirts," said François Pierre-Louis, a professor of political science at Queens College in New York and former Haitian politician. He spoke during an online webinar on Tuesday evening. Like others, he said he believed that Jean-Charles Moise, a powerful politician who was a former senator and presidential candidate, was behind Belizaire's nomination. Moise is not related to the assassinated President Jovenel Moise. Moise, however, does not sit on the council. His party, Pitit Desalin, is represented by Emmanuel Vertilaire, who is among the four council members who support Belizaire. The others are Louis Gerald Gilles, Smith Augustin and Edgard Leblanc Fils, the council's new president. They could not be immediately reached for comment. A document shared with The Associated Press and signed by the four council members who chose the new prime minister states they have agreed to make decisions by consensus. The document is titled, "Constitution of an Indissoluble Majority Bloc within the Presidential Council." Haitians are demanding that security be a top priority for the council, which is tasked with selecting a new prime minister and Cabinet, as well as prepare for eventual general elections. But some Haitians and others are wary of the council and the decisions it's taking. Jean Selce, a 57-year-old electrician, noted that most of the council members are longtime politicians: "Their past is not really positive." Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, noted that some of the parties represented on the council are responsible for the current chaos in Haiti. "It's a contradiction," he said. "Every time we seem to be in a crisis, we reappoint the same people and hope that they change their ways, but they do not." More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured across Haiti from January to March, according to the U.N. In addition, more than 90,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince in just one month given the relentless gang violence.

Netanyahu tells Blinken the war will not stop until Hamas is destroyed. Police break up student protests at Columbia as tension grows at UCLA. Turkey looks to play a mediating role in the Middle East, an update from Kyiv and a look at the extraordinary numbers of Ukrainian and Russian casualties.

Paris — After the United States, France is now seeing spreading pro-Palestinian protests at universities, with students calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and ending support for Israel. Palestinian flags were out in force during the annual Workers Day rally in Paris. Protesters like university student Zinedine Amiane are calling for an end to the war in Gaza — and for a change in French policy. “We believe there’s a genocide happening and it cannot continue that way,” Amiane said in French. “France has to take its responsibility, which is to hold the voice for peace and try to obtain a cease-fire, to try to put pressure on Israel. …” Amiane joined demonstrations this week at the Sorbonne University in Paris, where he studies. Police broke up the protests but has not stopped the protest movement from growing — and spreading to other universities in France. Eleanore Schmitt, spokesperson for the Student’s Union (Union Etudiante), said the more the government tries to suppress the protest movement, the stronger it will get. She and other students say they’ve been inspired by the pro-Palestinian protests in the United States, where students have launched sit-ins and hunger strikes against the war in Gaza. Hundreds have been arrested. The war in Gaza is a particularly sensitive issue in France, which is home to Western Europe’s largest communities of Jews and Muslims. The protests here began last week at Sciences Po, an elite Paris university where President Emmanuel Macron and his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, studied. The head of the Paris region suspended the university’s funding until calm and order were restored. Far-left lawmakers have supported the protest movement, but conservatives and the government have criticized what they consider excessive behavior. Prime Minister Attal said there was always room for debate. But in the case of Sciences Po, he said a minority of students blocking the university were imposing their views on the majority — inspired by an ideology he calls imported from across the Atlantic.

WASHINGTON — The United States on Wednesday issued hundreds of fresh sanctions targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine in action that took aim at Moscow's circumvention of Western measures, including through China.  The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on nearly 200 targets, while the State Department designated more than 80.  The U.S. imposed sanctions on 20 companies based in China and Hong Kong, following repeated warnings from Washington about China's support for Russia's military, including during recent trips by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the country.  China's support for Russia is one of the many issues threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between the world's biggest economies.  "Treasury has consistently warned that companies will face significant consequences for providing material support for Russia’s war, and the U.S. is imposing them today on almost 300 targets," Yellen said in a statement.  The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on thousands of targets since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. The war has seen tens of thousands killed and cities destroyed.  Washington has since sought to crack down on evasion of the Western measures, including by issuing sanctions on firms in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.  Technology and equipment The Treasury's action on Wednesday sanctioned nearly 60 targets located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Slovakia it accused of enabling Russia to "acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad."  The move included measures against a China-based company the Treasury said exported items to produce drones — such as propellers, engines and sensors — to a company in Russia. Other China and Hong Kong-based technology suppliers were also targeted.  The State Department also imposed sanctions on four China-based companies it accused of supporting Russia's defense industrial base, including by shipping critical items to entities under U.S. sanctions in Russia, as well as companies in Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia that it accused of shipping high priority items to Russia.  The Treasury also targeted Russia's acquisition of explosive precursors needed by Russia to keep producing gunpowder, rocket propellants and other explosives, including through sanctions on two China-based suppliers sending the substances to Russia.  The U.S. on Wednesday also accused Russia of violating a global ban on chemical weapons by repeatedly deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control agents "as a method of warfare" in Ukraine.  The State Department also expanded its targeting of Russia's future ability to ship liquefied natural gas, or LNG, one of the country's top exports.   It designated two vessel operators involved in transporting technology, including gravity-based structure equipment, or concrete legs that support offshore platforms, for Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project.  Previous U.S. sanctions on Arctic LNG 2 last month forced Novatek, Russia's largest LNG producer, to suspend production at the project, which suffered a shortage of tankers to ship the fuel.   Also targeted were subsidiaries of Russia's state nuclear power company, Rosatom, as well as 12 entities within the Sibanthracite group of companies, one of Russia’s largest producers of metallurgical coal, the State Department said.  Washington also imposed sanctions on Russian air carrier Pobeda, a subsidiary of Russian airline Aeroflot.   The U.S. Commerce Department has previously added more than 200 Boeing and Airbus airplanes operated by Russian airlines to an export control list as part of the Biden administration's sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Sanctions over Navanly The State Department also targeted three people in connection with the death of late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, the best-known domestic critic of President Vladimir Putin. He died in February in a Russian Arctic prison.   Russian authorities say he died of natural causes. His followers believe he was killed by the authorities, which the Kremlin denies.  Wednesday's action targeted the director of the correctional colony in Russia where Navalny was held for most of his imprisonment, as well as the head of the solitary confinement detachment and the head of the medical unit at the colony where he was imprisoned before his death.  The officials oversaw the cells where Navalny was kept in solitary confinement, the walking yard where he allegedly collapsed and died and Navalny's health, including in the immediate aftermath of his collapse, the State Department said. 

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Berlin — It's a cold, overcast afternoon, but Su Yutong is in a cheerful mood as she walks in a Berlin park. Her hat askew and hair in pigtails, the 47-year-old proves popular among the animals. A French bulldog runs over to greet her. Swans and ducks paddle close. Swinging her sequined purse as she walks, Su brags to me about how well she plays ping pong. Her manner is a contrast to the Berliners hurrying by on this windy day. But the journalist's seemingly carefree attitude belies something darker. Heading back to her apartment, Su says the buildings look different in the daylight. As someone targeted frequently by the Chinese government, the Radio Free Asia reporter prefers to walk at night. "Because in the evening, no one knows me," she said. You don't have to hear much of Su's story to understand why she prefers anonymity. Held under house arrest in China before fleeing to Europe, the journalist is still targeted for her coverage of human rights and politics. From smear campaigns and people sharing her address on an underground sex website, to false bomb threats made in her name, the harassment has left a deep mark. "I keep telling the truth, so they want me to shut up, including by threatening me," she said, in reference to the Chinese government, which she and others say is behind the attacks. For more than a decade, Beijing-backed harassment has been the reality for Su. China ranks among the worst perpetrators of what is known as transnational repression, but even by those standards, Su's case is extreme, experts say.   "The everyday implications of transnational repression are vast," said Gözde Böcü, a researcher at the Citizen Lab. The University of Toronto group focuses on digital threats to human rights. There's the immediate effect, but the daily fallout is more severe. Long-term consequences include paranoia, depression and isolation, which experts say can also give perpetrators what they want most: silence. Over the past decade, at least 26 governments have targeted journalists abroad, according to Freedom House. The harassment against Su underscores a broader pattern in which authoritarian governments are increasingly comfortable reaching across borders to target their critics. Neither China's Foreign Ministry nor its embassy in Berlin replied to VOA's multiple emails requesting comment for this story. It's been more than 10 years since Su last set foot in China, but Beijing is still home. Born and raised in the country's capital, Su decided to pursue a career in journalism because of the lack of free-flowing information there. "China blocks the truth. It needs to have a lot of journalists to tell the real stories, tell the real events and the truth, so I decided to become a reporter," Su said. She worked at Radio Beijing but left in 2004 due to government censorship. In 2010, Su made a fateful decision: She distributed Li Peng Diary, a book by the former premier about Tiananmen Square that's banned in China. "I had to make it public," she said. "After it was published, I became very dangerous." Authorities raided Su's home and detained her, but public pressure pushed authorities to place Su under house arrest. During the Dragon Boat Festival in June that year, only one officer was left guarding Su's house. The journalist seized the opportunity to escape. "I called my mom on a public phone. I didn't say goodbye. I didn't tell her I was leaving," she said. "It was a very painful and sudden decision." With the help of colleagues and friends, Su fled to Hong Kong and then on to Germany. More than 7,300 kilometers lie between Berlin and Beijing, and for a while that distance helped Su feel safe. Slowly rebuilding her life, she worked first at the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle before moving to VOA's sister outlet Radio Free Asia. "When I arrived in Germany, at least I was able to write freely," she said. "I thought Germany was very safe."   But the distance began to shrink. And that, says Mareike Ohlberg, is often the goal. Ohlberg researches China at the German Marshall Fund think tank in Berlin. From her office, with a view of the Reichstag, she said, "The basic tactics of transnational repression are usually geared towards showing people that they can't get away from the Chinese government. To show that we can get you anywhere, we can find you anywhere." What's known in China as the "three afflictions" helps explain why Beijing's harassment is so aggressive, according to Ohlberg. Under Mao Zedong, China no longer had to worry about being bullied by foreign powers. In turn, Deng Xiaoping addressed poverty and hunger. As this narrative goes, Ohlberg said, the last main affliction is criticism of China, and it's President Xi Jinping's responsibility to root it out. "The Party can shut up criticism inside of China. But is it really a strong country if it can't do the same overseas?" Ohlberg said about Beijing's mindset. "That is a big part of what we're seeing." In 2011, Su led a solidarity campaign for Ai Weiwei after the artist was secretly detained in China. In response, a Chinese-run news site posted doctored photographs appearing to show Su naked and falsely referring to her as Ai Weiwei's mistress. From there, the harassment escalated. Government-run outlets including the Global Times launched campaigns against her. On the social media platform X, then known as Twitter, insults like "prostitute" and "dog" were common. Death and rape threats were frequent, too. Deepfake pornographic images spread on social media. Su says she was surveilled at protests outside the Chinese Embassy in Berlin, and on multiple occasions, Chinese authorities offered her large sums of money to stop work. In a more unsettling case, in 2022, men began ringing the doorbell to her apartment, saying they were responding to a sex worker advertisement on an underground website. Su suspects Chinese operatives posted her address to the site. "I felt very disgusted and very humiliated," Su said, adding, "I was afraid to walk down the street." The sexualized harassment mirrors broader strategies that repressive governments use to target women abroad, says the Citizen Lab's Böcü. It's "a devastating practice that can silence female journalists," she said. The fake advertisement isn't the only time Su's identity was stolen and used against her. In February 2023, unknown people began booking rooms at luxury hotels around the world, from Houston to Istanbul, under the names of Su and two other activists. They then called in fake bomb threats in a process known as swatting. Again, the Chinese government is the prime suspect. At the time, a spokesperson from China's Washington embassy told VOA they were aware of the specifics of the case but that China "firmly opposes" the U.S. smearing its reputation. "The accusation of 'transnational repression' is totally made out of thin air. The U.S. attempt to hype up 'China threat' and tarnish China's reputation is doomed to fail," the spokesperson said via email. Transnational repression is typically either digital or physical. The former is easier and cheaper to perpetrate, according to Ohlberg. By contrast, what Su has faced is more expensive and time-consuming to carry out. "That tends to be reserved for people that are at the top of the Chinese government's list," Ohlberg said. "Pretty much anything goes — anything that the party-state thinks it can get away with internationally." Following the harassment directed at Su, Berlin police recommended she change her address. It's been 10 months since Su moved, and her new apartment is still mostly empty. White walls meet high ceilings with ornate crown molding. Su is learning her way around. Coming home after a walk, she accidentally bumps a light switch in the foyer, triggering an unexpected display of disco lights. Erupting into laughter, Su says the previous owner left them. Over the years, Su has left a trail of apartments in her wake. There's the old apartment she still owns in Beijing. She wants to sell, she said, but China has resisted giving her a document necessary for the sale. There's also her other Berlin apartment. Both still have their furniture and decorations: time capsules of periods of a life she can't retrieve. Being forced to move is one of the obvious effects of the harassment Su has faced. Other ramifications are subtler and deeper felt, like food. "I think everyone has memories of food as a child," she said. The German capital has a respectable Chinese food scene, but Su can rarely enjoy it. Dining out increases the risk of running into officials from China's Berlin embassy, she said. Another concern is that some Chinese restaurants around the world have been found to be secret overseas police stations run by Beijing, according to a report by the human rights group Safeguard Defenders. Unable to enjoy the comforts of a meal in a Chinese restaurant, Su has become a skilled chef. "I slowly learned everything," she said. Over a conversation reaching into the night, Su whips up several dishes: fried rice, tofu, cucumber salad, fish, dumplings, sesame buns. Wearing a hat — she always wears a hat — she serves jasmine tea and red wine, the latter a gift from a German lawmaker. The journalist alternates in and out of levity. She boasts that unlike Elon Musk, she can get into the exclusive Berlin club Berghain. (Vice reported in 2022 that bouncers turned the tech billionaire away. Musk tells a different version.) Su smirks at the comparison then switches to more serious matters, like how her suspicion about Chinese restaurants has given way to suspicion about Chinese people in general. In her free time, Su likes to help fellow dissidents still inside China. But in Germany, she worries whether members of the diaspora are actually reporting back to Beijing. "I became very, very cautious," she said. That wariness is common among those targeted by transnational repression, according to Böcü. "People fear that other actors or individuals within the community could spy on them. And these fears are not unfounded," she said. "Growing mistrust in these different communities is also a big problem." Su is doing better now, but for a two-year period she hardly left her apartment. And when she did, she said, "I kept checking to see if there were any suspicious people around me." But, says Su, fear is what she believes drives Chinese authorities. "They are afraid of information, afraid of the truth," she said. And while the harassment hasn't stopped, Su says the harmful effects are waning. Through everything, Su never stopped reporting because backing down to the Chinese government was never even a consideration for her. "They didn't expect me to slowly come out of that shadow. I think they should be afraid, not me," she said. "They can't shut me up. They can't achieve this goal." Reporter: Liam Scott; Editors: Jessica Jerreat, Holly Franko; Camera: Jonathan Spier

Washington — For the fifth year in a row, about eight out of 10 Americans have unfavorable views of China, with many saying limiting Beijing’s power is a top priority, according to a public opinion survey released Wednesday. According to the Washington-based Pew Research Center, 81% of Americans have an unfavorable view of China, including 43% who hold a very unfavorable view of the country.  “Views of China across all Americans remain critical — pretty negative,” Pew research associate Christine Huang told VOA.   “China is becoming an increasingly powerful player on the international stage, and so it’s important for us to track how Americans and people around the world view China and its actions, and to see how public opinion will shape or not affect foreign policy of countries,” Huang added.   Political ideology and age were found to have a distinct impact on people’s perception of China.  “Not all Americans see China equally negatively. Some groups stand out for having especially negative views of China,” Huang said.   Republicans are far more likely to hold negative views of China than Democrats are, according to Pew. Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are about twice as likely as Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents to hold a very unfavorable view of China and to consider China an enemy of the U.S., the report said.  Conservative Republicans are more likely than moderate or liberal Republicans to hold negative views of China and view Beijing as an enemy. Meanwhile, older people are also more likely to be wary of China, with Americans over the age of 65 tending to hold more unfavorable views of Beijing.  Pew doesn’t look into why most Americans have negative views of China, but the study does examine perceptions of Chinese influence, according to Huang. “Most people in America, for example, think that China’s power and influence has gotten stronger in recent years,” Huang said. “So there is a connection between the sense that it’s becoming more powerful and being more negative towards the country.”  Those views are particularly clear when it comes to considering China’s economic influence on the United States. More than 80% of Americans think China has at least a fair amount of influence on U.S. economic conditions, the report said. Of the people who think Beijing has at least some influence on the U.S. economy, 79% think that influence is negative, compared to just 18% who think it’s positive, according to Pew.  Something that stood out in this year’s study, according to Huang, is American concern over China’s territorial disputes. Beijing has laid claim to large swathes of the South China Sea, for instance, despite strong pushback from countries like Vietnam and the Philippines.  About six out of 10 Americans, or 61%, say they are at least somewhat concerned about territorial disputes between China and its neighbors, including 20% who say they are very concerned, the report found.   “Americans are looking beyond just the immediate impact to themselves,” Huang said. 

washington — The United Methodist Church, which has some 10 million members around the world, repealed on Wednesday a ban on ordaining gay clergy and same-sex marriage. Church leadership, at a conference held in North Carolina, approved the moves in a 692-51 vote. The church removed its 1984 ban on the ordination of clergy who are "self-avowing practicing homosexuals." It also decided that clergy who perform same-sex marriages will not be subject to any penalties. Neither will clergy or churches which refuse to hold same-sex weddings. "Delegates and observers applauded after the vote," the church news agency said. "Many hugged and more than a few cried, in a mass release of joy for those who had pushed, some for decades, to make The United Methodist Church fully inclusive," it added. The LGBTQ moves have not been without controversy. Thousands of more conservative United Methodist congregations have left the denomination in the past few years over the issue. About half of the church's global membership is in the United States.

YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Hundreds of thousands of workers across Cameroon are observing International Labor Day on May 1 by marching against abuses they say include illegal dismissals and failure to pay the $70 monthly minimum wage, even as the cost of living increases. Trade unions say tens of thousands of trained teachers, doctors and nurses have fled the country in the past year because of unemployment and tough working conditions, with monthly salaries at half the minimum.  Celestin Bama, secretary general of the Confederation of Cameroon Workers Trade Union, or CSTC, addressed workers gathered at the May 20 Boulevard in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.  Bama said the government of Cameroon has not done anything substantial within the past 30 years to improve the conditions of workers. Thirty years ago, Cameroon imposed a 70 percent salary cut on government workers, Bama said, adding that there is a growing need to increase wages as prices of basic commodities have spiked 40 percent. Cameroon trade unions say a 20 percent fuel price hike imposed by the government in February without a corresponding salary increase has also made living very difficult. Anong Jacob, a member of the Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, or CATTU, said some private school owners pay teachers as little as $50 a month.    "What do you expect from a teacher who earns 40,000 or 30,000 francs in a town like Yaounde or Douala or Bamenda, Bafoussam? What quality of shoe or dress would you expect them to put [wear] and come to school? You see the poor teacher with twisted shirts, with twisted shoes and all of that. Sometimes they don't have money to pay electricity bills. They suffer a lot of humiliation,” Anong said. “I think the government should put some policies [in place] to see that proprietors and proprietresses respect the minimum wage."   Cameroon's agreed minimum wage is $70 per month. Hilary Mbuwel, a teacher and social critic, said private employers do not respect the minimum wage because the government does not police private companies.   "Proprietors know that if they do not respect the minimum wage, nobody calls them to account and so, since there is nobody to call them to account, nobody to punish them, they do it with impunity," Mbuwel said.  The government says there has been a 10 percent pay raise since 2023, but workers say with inflation so high, the raise is negligible. The government says the inflation rate is about 8 percent.   Cameroon Minister of Labor and Social Security Gregoire Owona said the fragile world economy and several armed conflicts that the government has to manage make it impossible for the state and private investors to satisfy the needs of all workers.  Owona said limited financial resources make it difficult for the government of Cameroon to solve the myriad problems affecting workers. He added that Cameroon President Paul Biya has ordered officials to make sure the wages of all government workers are paid regularly and as agreed in their employment contracts, while the possibility of improved workers' rights, decent working conditions and fair compensation are being examined.   Owona said the Cameroon government has instructed police and the National Insurance Fund to investigate and punish private employers who neither register their staff members to social security schemes nor respect the minimum wage.  The government says respecting agreed wages and providing retirement benefits and disability income to qualified workers and their families will reduce the current massive migration of workers for lucrative jobs elsewhere, especially in Europe and North America.  Cameroon says at least 10,000 trained professionals have fled the central African state within the past year because of unemployment, poor pay or poor working conditions.  

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London — Climate change will cut the average income of people around the world by one-fifth by 2050, according to a new report published in the journal Nature by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. As many parts of the world experience extreme weather, the global impacts of a changing climate are set to cost $38 trillion a year by the middle of the century, the report warns — a reduction in the world’s average income of some 19%. The losses are already locked in, independent of future emission choices, the report says. Maximilian Kotz, co-author of the report, told VOA there is little the world can do to mitigate the impact. “What we find is that over the next 25 to 30 years, impacts on the economy are consistent across different emissions scenarios, regardless of whether we enter a high-emission or low-emission world,” he said. Climate change, and especially higher temperatures, have been shown to impact worker productivity, said Kotz. “That’s then going to be manifest across numerous different industries — although it’s particularly strong, those impacts, when workers are outdoors, so in contexts like manufacturing sectors,” he said. “And then, we also know that impacts on agricultural productivity are very strong from again, particularly high temperatures.” The research looked at climate and economic data from the past 40 years from more than 1,600 regions across the world and used it to assess future impacts. Those least responsible for global emissions are likely to be worst hit. “Committed losses are projected for all regions except those at very high latitudes, at which reductions in temperature variability bring benefits. The largest losses are committed at lower latitudes in regions with lower cumulative historical emissions and lower present-day income,” the report said. The authors conclude that tackling climate change would be far cheaper than putting up with the economic damage and estimate the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be just one-sixth of the $38 trillion impact of climate change by 2050. The research is likely to underestimate the total economic impact of climate change. “Important channels such as impacts from heatwaves, sea-level rise, tropical cyclones and tipping points, as well as non-market damages such as those to ecosystems and human health, are not considered in these estimates,” the report said.