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islamabad — Russia expressed support Wednesday for Pakistan's entry into the BRICS intergovernmental group of major emerging economies from the Global South. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk made the pledge after holding delegation-level talks in Islamabad with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is also the deputy prime minister. Pakistan announced last November that it had formally requested to join BRICS, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. “We are happy that Pakistan has applied … and we would be supportive of that,” said the Russian deputy prime minister during a joint news conference with Dar when asked about Moscow’s position on Pakistan’s bid to join BRICS. “At the same time, there is a consensus that needs to be built within the organization to make those decisions,” Overchuk said, noting that “we have shared a very good relationship with Pakistan.” Moscow initially launched BRICS in 2009 to provide members with a conduit for challenging the world order dominated by the U.S. and its Western allies. South Africa joined in 2010, and the group expanded this year with new members from the Middle East and Africa. The Russian deputy prime minister said Wednesday that the organization acts as a platform for discussions "based on quality, mutual respect and consensus" among member countries. “It’s actually what is attracting many countries from throughout the world to BRICS,” he stated. Russia will host the 2024 BRICS Summit in Kazan on October 22-24.     Overchuk said that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin would attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, heads of government meeting in the Pakistani capital next month.    The SCO is a security, political and economic grouping launched by China, Russia and Central Asian states in 2001 as a counterweight to Western alliances. It expanded to nine countries after archrivals Pakistan and India joined in 2017 and Iran in 2023. In a post-talks statement Wednesday, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry quoted Dar as conveying to Overchuk Islamabad’s “desire to intensify bilateral, political, economic and defense dialogue" with Moscow. The statement said the two sides "agreed to pursue robust dialogue and cooperation” in trade, industry, energy, connectivity, science, technology and education. 

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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — One of the hurdles to improving health care systems for African countries is the shortage of scientists and lack of meaningful medical research on the continent, experts say. An organization hopes to change that by enabling researchers and policymakers in three large African countries to develop more extensive and relevant research. According to a 2017 report by the World Economic Forum, Africa is home to 15% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s disease burden — but produces just 2% of the world’s medical research. The report said of the medical research that does occur, much of it fails to prioritize diseases or health problems most pressing for Africans. A group of African health researchers and institutions are now pushing for the continent’s medical research to be more focused on the continent’s own medical problems. The African Population and Health Research Center is bringing together scientists, academics, policymakers and government officials from Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria. Their goal is to strengthen African leadership in research and development, ensuring that the findings from these researchers are relevant and accessible to decision-makers, leading to better health care systems across the continent. Catherine Kyobutungi, head of the organization, said African-led research can help solve health problems on the continent much more easily and quickly. "If we want the research to be done by Africans in Africa on African issues, that is [how] the priorities for what research should be done are defined, not just by academics, but by the people who are going to use that research for decision-making,” she said. "What we are trying to achieve is to shift what research is and what it is for and to create an army of African scientists that do research to solve African problems in real time, not after 50 years," Kyobutungi said. Dr. Hadiza Galadanci, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Bayero University in Nigeria, said her country accounts for about 28% of maternal deaths worldwide each year. She and researchers from four African countries, Birmingham University in the United Kingdom and the World Health Organization published research on the best way to save women who were dying from postpartum hemorrhage, or excessive bleeding after childbirth. Their innovation — a calibrated obstetric drape, which is placed beneath a birthing mother — allows physicians to collect and precisely measure blood and fluid loss. "The drape is just put under ... the woman when she's going to deliver. And then, as soon as she delivers, any blood that comes out goes to the drape. So, we have an objective assessment,” Galadanci explained, saying that the process allows for more specific treatment. “When we did this, we found out that we could reduce the rate of severe [postpartum hemorrhage] leading to maternal death by 60%." African researchers face challenges ranging from a lack of reliable data and funding to poor infrastructure to cultural and religious issues. With the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Africa Research Connect was developed to connect and enhance the visibility of scientists, institutions, policymakers and donors. Jude Igumbor, an associate professor at Wits School of Public Health in South Africa, wants to improve the visibility of African scientists and their work. "What we give African scientists is they are able to find each other for collaboration,” he said. The African Population and Health Research Center is calling on donors to fund African institutions and researchers directly instead of going through other organizations, saying that doing so helps the money create opportunities and hone the skills of researchers on the continent.

Termez, Uzbekistan — Afghans longing for closer connections with the outside world are finding an outlet in the border city of Termez, where neighboring Uzbekistan invites them to visit a new international trade center aimed at boosting regional trade and creating business opportunities. “It’s uplifting to be here, as we’ve been dreaming about creating a common market for so long. Perhaps this is the beginning of it, despite all the challenges,” said Ajmalik Nader Saghpi, a visitor from Afghanistan’s Laghman Province. Nearby, other Afghan men approach along a dedicated corridor leading from the border control area and lounge on a green lawn in front of a prayer hall. Branded as the Airitom Free Zone, the facility sits on the banks of the Amu Darya, a river marking the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan and feeding much of Central Asia. Airitom is a neighborhood in Termez, the administrative center of Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya region, which also borders Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Built at a cost of around $70 million, the zone spans 36 hectares and is guarded by special forces and police. It features a customs office and storage area capable of handling 100,000 trucks and 900,000 tons of goods a year. It also includes a Hilton Garden Inn, a high-tech hospital, an academic campus, Uzbek and Turkish restaurants, and 50,000 square meters of business space, along with banking and legal services. It is separate from the nearby Termez Cargo Center, an international transport and logistics hub. When VOA toured the zone in August and saw the model, managers said the site, once fully functional, is projected to generate $1.2 billion in trade and attract 1.5 million visitors a year. “We’re not fantasizing,” said Bakhtiyor Rahimov, the zone’s manager, acknowledging challenges in the region. “We believe this is realistic because we have studied the neighboring country and others around us, surveyed businesses, and discussed our vision with Afghan leaders. We know they are keen to work with us.” Those high hopes have been echoed by high-profile visitors including Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Taliban’s acting Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar, and cabinet members from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. Any foreigner can stay in the zone for two weeks visa-free. Visitors can conduct commerce in any currency, customs-free. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed that 40% of the space be allocated to Afghan manufacturers and traders, and up to 30% of the projected 5,000 jobs can go to them. Hakim Yar, a businessman from Balkh, the nearby Afghan province, plans to open a couple of offices here for export-import and for an agricultural firm he runs in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. He is satisfied with what’s available in the zone and is among those Afghans already occupying 5% of the space. Qari Shergulan, from Nangarhar, envisions that more Afghans will come if entrepreneurs like him return home with positive experiences. He says his people are eager to seize opportunities wherever they find them and won’t waste any chance to grow. “We have not lost our potential. We can still work, build, trade, earn, expand, and invest,” Shergulan told VOA when asked about the economic conditions in Afghanistan. None of the Afghan visitors VOA spoke with complained about the Taliban. Instead, they praised Kabul’s cooperation with the Uzbek government and its support for efforts like the new trade center. However, they mentioned electricity shortages, unemployment, diminishing manufacturing, and lack of opportunities across Afghanistan, particularly for youth. Tashkent-based Central Asian University is opening a campus in the zone, promising free education and residence for 200 Afghans, as well as business training for others. “We will soon have a visa office here,” said Mirkhamid Mirpulatov, the zone’s CEO. “Foreigners seeking work, study, or services here for a longer period can apply for visas. “The special corridor on the border, once you cross the bridge over the Amu Darya, is only for our zone. The access is limited to this area. Those interested in doing business outside the Airitom Free Zone need additional permissions,” Mirpulatov explained. Airitom is on the main transportation route linking Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. This is a key factor for landlocked Uzbekistan, which is eager for access to ports on the Indian Ocean. The zone is also starting daily bus service between Airitom and Mazar-i-Sharif, about 60 kilometers away. The private hospital in the zone is a branch of Tashkent-based Akfa Medline. “The costs here are lower than in the capital,” Mirpulatov said. “Afghans have been patients for years, so offering health care here on the border simplifies everything for them.” With 315 staff members and state-of-the-art operating and treatment facilities, Akfa Medline has adjusted its services to mainly cater to Afghans, creating separate units for men and women, something it does not do in Tashkent. “We’re doing this out of respect for our neighbor’s culture, just as we’re not allowing alcohol in the zone,” Mirpulatov said, denying that Airitom is run under Taliban rules. “We do discuss business with them but make our own decisions.” Uzbek tycoon behind enterprise Jahongir Artikkhodjayev, an Uzbek business tycoon and former mayor of Tashkent, is the mastermind behind the Airitom Free Zone. Mirpulatov confirmed that the zone is under Akfa Group, one of the largest Uzbek industrial holdings, founded and run by Artikkhodjayev. As with other major projects in the country, President Mirziyoyev entrusted Artikkhodjayev with delivering this trade center, according to Mirpulatov, who calls Artikkhodjayev his mentor. Akfa Group secured the funds for the zone. There is no Western involvement so far, though South Asians, Russians, Chinese and Arabs have shown interest. US view on development When VOA asked U.S. Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jonathan Henick about the Airitom Free Zone, he underscored America’s overall position on Afghanistan and the Taliban. “Broadly speaking, we support anything that helps ordinary Afghan people and contributes to stability along the border. We recognize that Uzbekistan has legitimate economic concerns that need to be addressed,” he said. “That should be separate from the question of the Taliban’s desire for international recognition and access to funds. These issues must continue to be handled collectively by the international community through the Doha process,” under which some 30 countries have been discussing how to advance international engagement on Afghanistan. Henick added, “We have a very strong dialogue with Uzbekistan about Afghanistan. Uzbekistan is an active participant in the Doha process. Our interests are closely aligned.” Other Western diplomats in Tashkent agreed with Henick that recognizing the regime in Kabul, based on human rights and governance conditions, is key to normalizing relations and attracting investment. The Taliban remain angry over a recent deal under which several dozen U.S. aircraft that were flown to Uzbekistan as the Taliban seized control in Afghanistan have been transferred to Uzbek control. But, Henick said, Washington and Tashkent maintain “a robust military and security relationship.” At the same time, Henick told VOA: “The U.S. is the largest contributor of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan to this day. We provide enormous amounts of aid because, like Uzbekistan, we have an interest in ensuring there is no humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.”

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state department — A senior U.S. State Department official said Wednesday that Beijing's support for Moscow’s defense industry comes directly from the top leadership of the People’s Republic of China, or PRC. The official also pointed out that chips supplied by China have significantly bolstered Russia's battlefield capabilities in its war against Ukraine. For months, U.S. officials have accused the PRC of actively aiding Russia's war effort. Washington has sanctioned Chinese firms providing crucial components to Russia's defense industry. On Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told lawmakers that the U.S. had been slow to fully grasp the "absolute intensity of engagement" between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. "The most worrisome thing is that it [China’s support for Russia] comes from the very top," Campbell said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. He added that “chips, some design features, some capacities associated with the making of explosives” have been enhancing Russia's battlefield operations. “We see the role of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones] and other capacities that are penetrating the Ukrainian airspace. Much of that has been supported surreptitiously by China, and it raises real concerns.” Chinese officials rejected Washington’s accusations, asserting that the U.S. should not "smear or attack the normal relations between China and Russia" or infringe upon “the legitimate rights and interests” of China and its companies. Beijing also continues to call for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine leading to a political settlement, more than two and a half years into the war. Some members of Congress have urged President Joe Biden’s administration to sanction Chinese banks for supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine. “We've put many of their [PRC] financial institutions on watch. … We've got to have Europeans with us. I think we're beginning to make headway,” said Campbell. The State Department’s second-ranking diplomat said the challenges posed to the U.S. by the PRC exceed those of the Cold War, following a large-scale joint military exercise between China and Russia. Dubbed “Ocean-2024,” the massive naval and air drills spanned a huge swath of ocean and involved more than 400 naval vessels, at least 120 military aircraft and upward of 90,000 troops, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Without naming specific countries, Chinese officials said that the military exercise between the two allies, which concluded Monday, was intended to address joint threats. Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, elaborated during a recent briefing in Beijing, saying, “China and Russia [held] this joint exercise in order to deepen their mil-to-mil strategic coordination and strengthen the capacity to jointly address security threats.”

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Haiti's government on Wednesday created a provisional electoral council long sought by the international community to prepare the troubled Caribbean country for its first general elections since 2016.  Smith Augustin, a member of the country's transitional presidential council, confirmed to The Associated Press that the electoral council was created, albeit with only seven of what by law is supposed to be a nine-member panel. He said the two other members would likely be announced in upcoming days.  The electoral council, which represents groups including farmers, journalists, human rights activists and the Vodou community, is tasked with organizing the elections and helping create the legal framework to hold them.  Haiti, which has not had a president since July 2021, last held elections in 2016.  The previous electoral council had been dissolved in September 2021 by former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who accused it of being "partisan." His move delayed elections planned for November 2021 and prompted critics to accuse him of holding on to power, accusations he rejected.  A transitional leader, Henry was sworn in as prime minister roughly two weeks after former President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his private home in July 2021. Henry repeatedly pledged to hold elections but blamed worsening gang violence for his failure to do so.  Earlier this year, gangs that control 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, launched coordinated attacks on critical government infrastructure, a move that eventually led to Henry's resignation.  A transitional presidential council was then created and tasked with holding presidential elections by February 2026.  The assassination of Moise had left a political vacuum.  In addition, the terms of 10 remaining senators expired in January 2023, stripping Haiti of its last democratically elected institution. The country had failed to hold legislative elections since October 2019, with Moise ruling by decree before he was killed.  The newly formed provisional electoral council faces numerous obstacles, including persistent gang violence blamed for the killing of more than 3,200 people from January to May.  Turf wars among gangs also have left more than half a million people homeless in recent years, with thousands of Haitians forced to flee their homes, abandoning essential documents including ID's needed to vote.  Government officials have been visiting makeshift shelters to provide new IDs, but many Haitians remain without one.  To help quell gang violence, nearly 400 Kenyan police arrived in Haiti earlier this year as part of a U.N.-backed mission that also expects to see the pledged deployment of soldiers and police from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Chad, Benin and Bangladesh.

caracas, venezuela — Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, who stood against President Nicolas Maduro in July's election, on Wednesday said he was forced to sign a letter accepting a ruling from the country's top court that recognized Maduro's victory. "Either I signed or I faced the consequences," he said in a statement. Gonzalez is currently in Spain, where he was granted political asylum earlier this month following the issue of a warrant for his arrest in Venezuela. The national electoral council proclaimed Maduro the victor of the July 28 presidential election, prompting allegations of fraud and widespread protest as the opposition published vote tallies online that they said showed Gonzalez had won. Earlier this week, a U.N. report said Maduro's government escalated repressive tactics to crush peaceful protests and keep power in the aftermath of the South American country's disputed election. The declaration by Venezuela's top electoral authority was approved by the country's Supreme Court, even though officials have not published vote tallies showing Maduro's victory. Gonzalez said he was met at the Spanish embassy in Caracas by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and her brother Jorge Rodriguez, president of the National Assembly, who gave him the letter to sign. "There followed very tense hours of coercion, blackmail and pressure," Gonzalez said, adding he felt he would be more useful in freedom than locked up. "A document produced under duress is totally worthless, due to a serious lack of consent," the statement added. In Caracas, Jorge Rodriguez presented a two-page letter signed by Gonzalez and said the former presidential candidate, 75, had 24 hours to retract his claims. "If you don't deny that in 24 hours, I'm going to release the audios, it's up to you, Mr. Gonzalez," Rodriguez said, referring to the meetings he and his sister held with Gonzalez.

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LOS ANGELES — In 2019, Brandon McDowell was contacted by a sophomore in college who asked to buy Percocet, a prescription painkiller.  What the 20-year-old sold her instead were counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that can be lethal in a dose as small as 2 milligrams. Hours later, Alexandra Capelouto, also 20, was dead in her Temecula, California, home.  It is an increasingly common scenario as fentanyl overdoses have become a leading cause of death for minors in the last five years, with more than 74,000 people dying in the U.S. from a synthetic opioid in 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  McDowell has been behind bars since 2022 with a fentanyl possession conviction. But the Capeloutos have now won an additional $5.8 million judgment against him for the death of their daughter.  "We've won the battle but not the war," said Matt Capelouto, Alexandra's father. "We still have a long ways to go in terms of holding drug dealers accountable for deaths."  Baruch Cohen, the Capeloutos' lawyer, said this was the first time a drug dealer has been held liable civilly for someone's death, to his knowledge.  "Here's the hope that this judgment will be the shot that's heard around the world, so to speak," Cohen said. "Because if it inhibits another drug deal from going down, where the drug dealer ... realizes that, besides the jail sentence, he is liable for millions of dollars of damages, maybe he'll think twice."  McDowell, now 25, first pleaded guilty in California federal court in 2022 for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, a charge that carries a 20-year minimum sentence if linked to death or serious injury and convicted by a jury. McDowell was sentenced to nine years in prison.  Alexandra's father felt that wasn't enough. He and his wife, who was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer that year and has been battling it since, decided to sue McDowell for wrongful death.  "For taking somebody's life, that was not a fair sentence," he said. "I was going to pursue every means possible to make sure justice was served."  While McDowell filed for bankruptcy, the Capeloutos won a judgment of about $5 million against him. The Superior Court of Riverside County found he sold harmful narcotics with "willful and malicious" intent that led to Alexandra Capelouto's death. A few months later, the Capeloutos filed another case in federal bankruptcy court to ensure that McDowell could not escape his debt under bankruptcy.  "Bankruptcy is designed for honest debtors, not crooked criminal debtors," Cohen said. "This judgment will haunt him the rest of his life, and when he does make money, we'll garnish it. When he does buy property, we'll put a lien on it."  Judge Mark Houle ruled in the Capeloutos' favor, ordering a $5.8 million judgment against Brandon McDowell that includes a year and half of interest in addition to the initial $5 million.  Since his daughter's death, Matt Capelouto founded the non-profit Stop Drug Homicide to advocate for families and push for more legislation to hold drug dealers accountable. One is Alexandra's Law, which would require a formal warning be given to anyone with a drug-related conviction to inform them of the dangers of dealing drugs and that they could be charged with murder if they distribute drugs that lead to someone's death.  In California, it can be difficult for prosecutors to charge drug dealers with someone's death because they must prove the dealer had knowledge that the drugs could cause death, Capelouto said. Having an admonishment on the record for dealers who have been convicted of a drug-related crime could be used as evidence in future cases if someone dies from the drugs they sold. Alexandra's Law is included in Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime ballot measure that Californians will vote on in November.  Capelouto is also part of a group of 60 families suing Snapchat for its role in the distribution of deadly narcotics. Alexandra Capelouto and Brandon McDowell had communicated over Snapchat when she bought pills from him.  Justin McDowell, Brandon's father, said it is unfair for his son to take all the blame. He said his son was struggling with drug abuse and had been in rehab, and he didn't live with him at the time because the McDowells had younger children.  "My son is no drug dealer at all. They were both users. They both had an addiction," he said. "He was a stupid 20-year-old kid."  Justin McDowell said he felt like the Capeloutos were seeking revenge through their lawsuits, and he did not have the money and resources to fight on his son's behalf in court. Brandon McDowell was being held at the federal prison in San Pedro during the lawsuit and did not have lawyers to defend himself in civil or bankruptcy court.  "I think that's sad, that shouldn't be allowed," Justin McDowell said. "We'll wait for him to get out of prison, give him a hug, and figure out how to deal with the situation ... the kid's never going to make $5.8 million in his life."  Matt Capelouto said there was no evidence of his daughter having a drug addiction, and Brandon McDowell's addiction does not absolve him of responsibility in her death.  "When you go from drug user to drug dealer, you cross a line from needing help to needing to be held accountable," he said.

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WASHINGTON — The International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined Wednesday to endorse Kamala Harris or Donald Trump for president, saying neither candidate had sufficient support from the 1.3 million-member union. "Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before big business," Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said in a statement. "We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries — and to honor our members' right to strike — but were unable to secure those pledges." Harris met Monday with a panel of Teamsters, having long courted organized labor and made support for the middle class her central policy goal. Trump also met with a panel of Teamsters and even invited O'Brien to speak at the Republican National Convention, where the union leader railed against corporate greed. The Teamsters said Wednesday that internal polling of its members showed Trump with an advantage over Harris. The Teamsters' choice to not endorse came just weeks ahead of the November 5 election, far later than other large unions such as the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers, which have chosen to back Harris.

Vienna, Austria — Iran has no "covert objectives" when it comes to its nuclear program and the country is ready to resume its nuclear commitments once Western sanctions are lifted, the head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization told AFP.  "Uranium enrichment is not necessarily for weapons purposes," Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) general conference in Vienna.  "We are doing it for research and the production of various isotopes for nuclear industry applications," he said.  Tensions between Iran and the IAEA have repeatedly flared since a 2015 deal curbing Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief fell apart.  In recent years, Tehran has decreased its cooperation with the IAEA, while significantly ramping up its nuclear program, including amassing large stockpiles of uranium enriched to 60%, which is close to the 90% needed to develop an atomic bomb.  The rapid expansion of Iran's nuclear program has no "credible civilian justification," according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.  Amid the impasse, the IAEA's board of governors in June adopted a resolution critical of Iran.  Despite the restrictions on inspections since 2021 and the barring of U.N. inspectors, the IAEA continues to "daily monitor" Iran's nuclear program, at a level that exists "nowhere else in the world," Eslami stressed.  "Our work is completely transparent. It is not as if we were producing a material with covert objectives," Eslami told AFP.  He said Iran was in discussions with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi to organize his visit to the country in the near future, where he is expected to meet President Masoud Pezeshkian.  Since Pezeshkian's election in July, Iran has said it was willing to relaunch talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal it reached with world powers in 2015.  The landmark deal — also known by the acronym JCPOA — started to unravel in 2018 when then U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it and reimposed sanctions, and Iran retaliated by stepping up its nuclear activities.  Efforts to revive the deal — bringing the United States back on board and Iran back into compliance — have so far been fruitless.  Eslami, however, told AFP that "the JCPOA is not dead."  "As soon as the others resume their obligations, we will act accordingly,” he said, stressing that "it is not possible for them to expect us to keep our commitments" when they themselves have reinstated sanctions.  But Western powers have deplored the "absence" of positive concrete signs from Tehran.  "Patience has its limits, and we will not stand by while Iran continues to obfuscate," the United States, Britain, France and Germany warned in a joint statement last week.  Experts say resumption of talks seems unlikely before the U.S. presidential elections, amid a sharp deterioration in Iran's relations with Europe and the U.S.

London — Britain is facing growing pressure to address the issue of reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and other atrocities, as the former colonial power and many of its former colonies prepare to gather for the biennial Commonwealth heads of government meeting next month. The Commonwealth emerged from the ashes of Britain’s empire after World War II. The vast majority of its 56 members are former British colonies. The organization is set to choose a new secretary-general at its heads of government meeting October 21-25 in Samoa, as the term of incumbent Patricia Scotland comes to an end. All three candidates vying for the job — all of whom are from Africa — voiced strong support for reparations at a recent event at London’s Chatham House. Ghanaian Foreign Minister Shirley Botchwey said reparations could take various forms. “Financial reparations is good. However, the conversation is now moving to other reparations in kind. And so, either way it's fine, but I stand for reparations,” she said. “Whether or not the Commonwealth has a role to play will depend on the heads of government who will give the secretary-general her marching orders: that we want you involved in the conversation of reparations, we want you to put forward a common voice on behalf of all Commonwealth countries,” Botchwey added. Joshua Setipa, a candidate from Lesotho, said the Commonwealth was the right forum to address the issue. “I support the idea of reparative justice, and I would not wait to be asked to participate,” said Setipa, a former trade minister. “More than half of the members around the table are calling for this to be addressed.” Mamadou Tangara, Gambia’s candidate for Commonwealth secretary-general who is currently serving as the country’s foreign minister, agreed. “I am fully in support of reparatory justice. But this is a cause, a noble cause, that has to be championed by member states. And the Commonwealth can use its convenient power to facilitate the dialogue and make it happen,” he said. At the last Commonwealth summit, in Rwanda in 2022, Britain’s then-Prince Charles — who is now king and therefore head of the Commonwealth — spoke of his deep sorrow over the slave trade. “I want to acknowledge that the roots of our contemporary association run deep into the most painful period of our history,” Charles told delegates in Kigali. “I cannot describe the depths of my personal sorrow at the suffering of so many as I continue to deepen my own understanding of slavery's enduring impact.” Britain, however, has rejected any form of reparations. The issue can no longer be dismissed, said Kingsley Abbott, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. “In my view, sitting here in 2024, the fact of transatlantic slavery, the harm it caused, the harm it continues to cause, and the need for this to be addressed in some way meaningfully, can't really be ignored any longer. And these expressions of support from the candidates I think mirror the fact that the global movement for reparations is growing,” Abbott said. “Reparations doesn't just equal monetary compensation under international law. It can take many forms, like restitution and compensation and rehabilitation and satisfaction, things like meaningful apologies, public acknowledgement, memorialization and things like that,” Abbott told VOA. “And so, therefore, of course the Commonwealth has a role to play. What the Commonwealth can benefit from is the tremendous amount of very important, thoughtful work that's been done by people, including from Commonwealth states, on this very issue.” Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak argued in 2023 that “trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward.” His successor, Keir Starmer, is yet to make his position on reparations clear. The pressure will likely grow, as officials from Britain and many of its former colonies gather, as equals, at the Commonwealth summit next month.

Washington — When activists, policymakers and representatives from across the globe gather next week in New York to participate in climate week, one pressing issue on the agenda that is less frequently discussed and known will be the environmental impact of seabed mining.  As countries look for ways to lower emissions, critical minerals are playing a key role in that transition. Critical minerals are used in all kinds of green technologies, from solar panels and wind turbines to batteries in electric vehicles. And one place where those mineral resources are abundant is deep under the sea.  The debate over accessing seabed resources is heated. Supporters say the technology exists to safely access these critical minerals undersea, but environmentalists and activists say the potential of undiscovered biodiversity on the seafloor is too important to endanger.  During climate week, which will take place on the sidelines of U.N. General Assembly meetings, organizers are expected to host a roundtable on the environmental impact of seabed mining and other discussions about critical minerals.  The World Economic Forum says that if the globe wants to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, two-thirds of vehicles must be powered by electric batteries. And the International Energy Agency says that to reach that goal, the world needs six times more mineral resources by 2040 than it has today.  Some of the largest mineral deposits are found on the ocean floor in the form of polymetallic nodules, or rocks.   Ocean of resources  According to the International Seabed Authority, or ISA, there are 21 billion tons of polymetallic nodules strewn across the seabed of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, or CCZ. Each nodule contains a combination of electric vehicle battery components such as nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt. The ISA plans to release regulations for mining in the international waters of the CCZ by 2025.  The ISA has already awarded 17 exploration contracts for polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone – a large swath of the Pacific Ocean the size of the continental United States which sits between Hawaii and Mexico. Three of those exploration contracts went to The Metals Company, a Canadian deep-sea mining company.    The Pacific Island Nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Tonga have sponsored The Metals Company’s efforts to develop a portion of the seabed. In an interview with VOA, CEO Gerard Barron said the company is ready to begin as soon as the ISA allows mining.  “Our collector methodology is to put a robot on the seafloor which crawls around the ocean floor and fires a jet of water at the nodule and it creates an inverse pressure and lifts the nodule up, and so we don’t go down and scour the seafloor,” said Barron via Zoom, adding that TMC has spent the past decade focused on testing this equipment and collecting data on its environmental impact as part of its permit application to the ISA.  Moratorium needed  Critics worry scooping up these mineral-rich rocks will disrupt important biodiversity – much of it still unnamed and some of it undiscovered. Researchers have found that 90% of the more than 5,000 species in the zone are new to science. Eddie Palu, president of the Tonga Fishery Association, wants a pause for more research.  “We demand a moratorium on the seabed mining until the environmental, economic and social risk are comprehensively understood,” he said during a panel discussion at the recent Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga.  Shiva Gounden from Greenpeace Australia Pacific, who also sat on the panel, agreed.   “We know only very little of the deep sea, and the race for the final frontier could cause irreversible damages to the people and to the communities of our Pacific,” Gounden said.  But scientists say no light and very little oxygen reaches the deep sea – limiting the life there to mostly bacteria and small invertebrates.   The Metals Company’s Barron said combating climate change is a bigger threat to the planet than undersea mining, adding that the company’s environmental impact studies show that “we can safely collect these nodules” and turn them into battery metals without having “a negative impact on the ocean.”  “The notion that we can do any extraction with zero impact is a dream,” added Barron. “The oceans are impacted by every single thing we do today, especially global warming. So, we need to address the main driver for climate change and reduce emissions.”  Fueling innovation   Still, the quest to do just that – access minerals on the seabed with minimal impact to the environment – has created competition between technology companies.  U.S. tech startup Impossible Metals is testing a robot which can avoid nodules where it detects life and harvests those where it does not.  “The vehicle hovers above the seabed, uses the camera and it actually picks up the nodules one by one. So this really minimizes all of the negative concerns around big sediment plumes,” CEO Oliver Gunasekra told VOA in an interview.  Gunaskera’s company spun off Viridian Biometals. Its technology bypasses energy-intensive processes such as smelting with bacteria which can separate metal ore from the rock around it. The process creates no emissions or waste.  “The bacteria need oxygen just like we do to breathe. And when there's not enough oxygen in the water around them, the bacteria have learned that there's oxygen in the rocks, and they have adapted to breathe that oxygen,” said Viridian CEO Eric Macris.  Impossible Metals and Viridian Biometals say they are two to three years out from commercializing their technology, depending on funding. TMC says it could be ready to begin its collection operations as soon as international regulations are released next year.

washington — Two mighty beams of energy have been detected shooting in opposite directions from a supermassive black hole inside a distant galaxy — the largest such jets ever spotted, extending about 140 times the diameter of our vast Milky Way galaxy.  The black hole resides at the heart of a galaxy about 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion kilometers). Because of the time it takes for light to travel, looking across great distances is peering back in time, with these observations dating to when the universe was less than half its current age.  Black holes are extraordinarily dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape. Most galaxies, including the Milky Way, have a large black hole at their core. Some of these shoot jets of high-energy particles and magnetic fields into space from their two poles as they devour material such as gas, dust and stars falling into them due to their immense gravitational strength.  The two jet structures documented in the new study — using the LOFAR (Low-Frequency Array) radio telescope, a network of antennas centered in the Netherlands — extend 23 million light-years from end to end.  These super-heated jets, caused by the violent events around the black hole, are composed of subatomic particles called electrons and positrons, and magnetic fields, moving at nearly the speed of light.  The researchers have nicknamed these two jets Porphyrion (pronounced poor-FEER-ee-ahn), named after a giant from ancient Greek mythology. Porphyrion is about 30% longer than the previous record-holder for such jets.  "Jet systems like Porphyrion appear to be among the most energetic spectacles that have occurred in the universe since the Big Bang," said Caltech astrophysicist Martijn Oei, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature, referring to the event that initiated the universe about 13.8 billion years ago.  "The general understanding is that jets are formed when magnetized material falls onto a rotating black hole," added astrophysicist and study co-author Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire in England. "They need to be sustained by a continued infall of matter into the black hole, something of the order of one solar mass [the mass of the sun] a year of material."  Such jets, not visible to the naked eye, start out small and grow over time.  "We've known for a while that black holes can generate these jets. But what is interesting is that to generate a large structure like this, the jets must stay on for a long time — about a billion years," Hardcastle said.  The Porphyrion jets reach far beyond their home galaxy, with an energetic output equivalent to trillions of stars like the sun.  "That is equivalent to the energy released during the most cataclysmic cosmic collisions: for example, those that occur when two galaxy clusters, each sometimes containing thousands of galaxies, merge together," Oei said.  "The fact that it extends so far from its parent black hole means that it may be carrying energy, particles and magnetic fields into the voids in the cosmic web, the gaps between groups and filaments of galaxies which we know make up the large-scale structure of the universe. This may help us to understand the ubiquitous magnetic fields in the present-day universe," Hardcastle said.  Such jets could heat up gas in interstellar space, shutting down the formation of new stars that require cold clouds of gas, and could damage habitable planets, the researchers said.  The Milky Way's supermassive black hole, in its current quiescent state, does not have such jets.  "The key finding is that jets from black holes can, if circumstances are right, become as large as the universe's major cosmic structures — galaxy clusters, cosmic filaments, cosmic voids," Oei said. "This means that individual black holes can have a sphere of influence that extends way beyond the galaxy in which they reside." 

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grenada, mississippi — A Mississippi town has taken down a Confederate monument that stood on the courthouse square since 1910 — a figure that was tightly wrapped in tarps the past four years, symbolizing the community's enduring division over how to commemorate the past. Grenada's first Black mayor in two decades seems determined to follow through on the city's plans to relocate the monument to other public land, a concrete slab behind a fire station about 5.6 kilometers from the square. But a new fight might be developing. A Republican lawmaker from another part of Mississippi wrote to Grenada officials saying she believes the city is violating a state law that restricts the relocation of war memorials or monuments. The Grenada City Council voted to move the monument in 2020, weeks after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis. The vote seemed timely: Mississippi legislators had just retired the last state flag in the U.S. that prominently featured the Confederate battle emblem. The tarps went up soon after the vote, shrouding the Confederate soldier and the pedestal he stood on. But even as people complained about the eyesore, the move was delayed by tight budgets, state bureaucracy or political foot-dragging. A new mayor and city council took office in May, prepared to take action. On Sept. 11, with little advance notice, police blocked traffic and a work crew disassembled and removed the 6.1-meter stone structure. "I'm glad to see it move to a different location," said Robin Whitfield, an artist with a studio just off Grenada's historic square. "This represents that something has changed." Still, Whitfield, who is white, said she wishes Grenada leaders had invited the community to engage in a discussion about the symbol, to bridge the gap between those who think moving it is erasing history and those who see it as a daily reminder of white supremacy. She was among the few people watching as a crane lifted parts of the monument onto a flatbed truck. "No one ever talked about it, other than yelling on Facebook," Whitfield said. Mayor Charles Latham said the monument has been "quite a divisive figure" in the town of 12,300, where about 57% of residents are Black and 40% are white. "I understand people had family ... fight and die in that war, and they should be proud of their family," Latham said. "But you've got to understand that there were those who were oppressed by this, by the Confederate flag on there. There's been a lot of hate and violence perpetrated against people of color, under the color of that flag." The city received permission from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to move the Confederate monument, as required. But Representative Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes of Picayune said the fire station site is inappropriate. "We are prepared to pursue such avenues that may be necessary to ensure that the statue is relocated to a more suitable and appropriate location," she wrote, suggesting a Confederate cemetery closer to the courthouse square as an alternative. She said the Ladies Cemetery Association is willing to deed a parcel to the city to make it happen. The Confederate monument in Grenada is one of hundreds in the South, most of which were dedicated during the early 20th century when groups such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy sought to shape the historical narrative by valorizing the Lost Cause mythology of the Civil War. The monuments, many of them outside courthouses, came under fresh scrutiny after an avowed white supremacist who had posed with Confederate flags in photos posted online killed nine Black people inside the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.