Новини

Two Somali-American women who won local elections this week are calling for full participation of women in Somalia’s politics, peace and development efforts.

Voters on Tuesday elected Nadia Mohamed for an at-large seat in St. Louis Park, a western suburb of Minneapolis, in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, and chose Safiya Khalid to represent a ward in Lewiston, in the northeastern state of Maine.

Both ran as Democrats and will be the first Somali immigrants on their respective councils. Both also are 23 and are black, hijab-wearing Muslims.

The two new city council members are urging women in Somalia to follow their path.

“I was elected with respect being a woman, a young, a Muslim, and hijab-wearing. So that, I would like to see Somalia doing the same because a woman can do sometimes better what a man can do,” said Mohamed.

“I would like to send a call to Somali women in Somalia, saying that they can do whatever they want, regardless of the challenges they face from the men who hold the country’s politics in monopoly,” Khalid told VOA Somali.

In Somalia’s conservative society, women’s participation in politics has have traditionally been low, and a controversial topic.

Khadiijo Mohamed Dirie, Somalia’s minister of youth and sports, said the success of young Somali politicians in the United States and Europe is a reminder of how women can be empowered in Somali society.

Right now, she says, female politicians as young as Mohamed and Khalid would have zero chance of being elected to public office in Somalia.

“Women rarely envision a position of a higher political leadership in our male-dominated social system,” Dirie told VOA.  “Those who are successful in the U.S and Europe politics got an opportunity of living with a developed society in a political maturity.”

Somalia’s provisional constitution gives women 30 percent quota in both houses of the parliament.  However, women currently make up less than a quarter of parliamentarians.

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Lebanon’s national news agency says the country’s banks will be closed for two extra days over the weekend amid deepening turmoil and public anxiety over liquidity and sustained anti-government protests.
 
The National News Agency says the banks will be closed both on Saturday and Monday, along with the regular Sunday closure for the weekend.
 
The report says this will allow for the observation of the holiday celebrating Prophet Mohammad’s birthday, which is set for Monday in Lebanon.
 
Earlier, banks were closed for two weeks amid nationwide protests calling for the government to resign. After reopening last week, individual banks imposed irregular capital controls to protect deposits and prevent a run on the banks.

Lebanon is one of the world’s most heavily indebted countries.

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Editor’s note: We want you to know what’s happening, and why and how it could impact your life, family or business, so we created a weekly digest of the top original immigration, migration and refugee reporting from across VOA. Questions? Tips? Comments? Email the VOA immigration team: ImmigrationUnit@voanews.com.

Refugee restart

The U.S. refugee program resumed this week, after more than a month delay while the White House and Congress faced off over a dramatic cut to the number of refugees who will be admitted in the coming year. The final result? Largely what the Trump administration wanted.

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US Restarts Refugee Program

The State Department reports 199 people from 13 countries traveled to the US on Tuesday, ending a pause in arrivals that lasted more than a month

Women take charge

If three’s a trend, then U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar started it — two Somali-American women won local elections in separate U.S. cities this week, both of whom — like Omar — came to the country as refugees.

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2 Somali Americans Elected to City Councils in US

Both are Democrats and also 23-year-old hijab-wearing Muslim women

UNRWA shakeup
 
The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees resigned during an internal investigation into how he was running the organization. Pierre Krähenbühl stepped down as UNRWA also faces a funding struggle following a cut to contributions from the United States last year.

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Head of UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees Resigns Amid Investigation

Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl resigned after being placed on administrative leave as misconduct allegations were investigated

Border wall breaches

People are cutting through Trump’s “virtually impenetrable” border wall, prying the metal rods enough to allow humans to pass through. These are parts of the barrier that replaced previous construction.

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Smugglers Cutting Through Trump’s ‘Virtually Impenetrable’ Border Wall  

Migrants entering US with help of hardware store saws

From the Feds

Polish nationals now have streamlined access to U.S. travel after being included in the Visa Waiver Program.

Two men were indicted this week in an alleged visa fraud ring that focused on South Koreans. More than 100 people paid the California-based suspects between $30,000 and $70,000 to come to the U.S., often with falsified documents.

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The U.S. House of Representatives has begun an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump over his efforts to push Ukraine to investigate a political rival. Many of the words and phrases used in the impeachment process are particular to U.S. law and clauses in the U.S. Constitution that govern the impeachment process. 
 
Here are some of the common terms used in an impeachment inquiry and what they mean: 
 
Articles of impeachment: A formal document listing the charges against an official and the reasons why that person should be removed from office. In the United States, the House of Representatives drafts the articles of impeachment, which are then voted on by all members of the House. If a majority of House members vote in favor, the official is impeached — essentially, the equivalent of an indictment — and the articles of impeachment move to the Senate, which then holds a trial. 
 
Bribery: The second offense listed in the Constitution as worthy of impeachment, following treason. Bribery takes place when one person gives something of value to someone in a position of authority in order to influence his or her actions. It often involves cash gifts, although the inducements need not be money and could include, gifts, services or favors.   

Censure: A formal statement of condemnation of a president, Cabinet member, judge or lawmaker passed by a chamber of Congress. Unlike impeachment, censure is not mentioned in the Constitution and would not trigger a trial and possible expulsion. Only one president has ever been censured: Andrew Jackson, by the Senate in 1834.   
  
Civil officers of the United States: The Constitution says that any civil officer of the United States is eligible for impeachment. Civil officers are officials in the U.S. government who are appointed to their positions and serve in any of the branches of government — executive, legislative or judicial. 
  
High crimes and misdemeanors: One of the categories of offenses listed in the Constitution worthy of impeachment. The framers of the Constitution did not define high crimes and misdemeanors, but the phrase has been interpreted to include both violations of criminal statues as well as noncriminal actions that are deemed an abuse of power. 
 
Impeachment: This refers to the U.S. House bringing charges against a government official for alleged wrongdoing. A common misconception is that impeachment means removal from office, but it is more akin to an indictment. If a majority of lawmakers in the House vote in favor of impeachment, the process then moves to the Senate, which holds a trial to determine whether to remove the official from office. 
 
Pardon: Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution grants the president the “power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.” The question of whether a president can pardon himself was raised during the Watergate scandal in the 1970s. At the time, a Justice Department memo sent to President Richard Nixon said: “Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case,” the president cannot pardon himself. However, the Constitution does not expressly prevent a president from pardoning himself.   

Quid pro quo: The most literal translation of the Latin phrase is “something for something,” and in everyday terms it refers to an exchange of services or things of value. It has meaning in the legal system, finance and politics. It can describe perfectly legal transactions, but it can also apply to shady deals, where something improper or illegal is exchanged for something of value.    
 
Removal vs. disqualification: Once the impeachment proceedings move from the House to the Senate, a trial is held to determine whether to convict the defendant. If the Senate votes to convict, the defendant is removed from office. The Senate may then choose to vote to further punish the defendant by barring him or her from holding future federal office, known as disqualification. The Constitution states that removal and disqualification are the only punishments the Senate can issue. However, a defendant may also be subjected to punishment in regular state or federal courts. 
 
Standard vs. burden of proof: The Constitution says any officer of the executive or judicial branch can be removed from office for “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”  However, it does not define “high crimes and misdemeanors.”  The determination is left to the members of the House and Senate. The Constitution also leaves it to lawmakers to determine whether there is enough evidence for impeachment. Unlike in criminal cases, there is no need for proof of misconduct “beyond a reasonable doubt.”   

Supermajority: The Constitution requires two-thirds of the Senate to vote to convict an official facing impeachment and removal from office.

Treason: The first offense listed in the Constitution as worthy of impeachment. It is also the only crime specifically defined in the Constitution, which states a person is guilty of treason if he or she goes to war against the United States or gives “aid or comfort” to an enemy. The Constitution says that no one can be convicted of treason “unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act or on confession in open court.” 

U.S. Constitution: The document that defines the fundamentals of the government, laws and basic rights granted Americans. It was written in 1787 and ratified the next year by the 13 original states. 

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An 89-year-old Holocaust survivor in Italy has been placed under police protection after receiving hundreds of threats on social media.

Liliana Segre, who was sent to the Auschwitz death camp at age 13, has been receiving as many as 200 threats daily, many against her life. 

In response to the attacks, Segre, who is senator for life, called for the creation of a parliamentary committee to combat hate, racism and anti-Semitism. 

The motion was approved by Italy’s Parliament, even without the support of Italy’s right-wing parties, including former Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s Euroskeptic League Party and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.

Since then, the attacks against Segre have amplified. 

The Milan-based Center of Contemporary Jewish Documents’ Observatory on Anti-Jewish Prejudice says anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise in Italy, particularly online. 

In the first nine months of this year, 190 anti-Semitic incidents were reported to the observatory, compared with 153 incidents for all of 2018, and 91 for all of 2017.

“An 89-year-old Holocaust survivor under guard symbolizes the danger that Jewish communities still face in Europe today,” Israel’s ambassador to Italy, Dror Eydar, tweeted Thursday.
 

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The United States imposed sanctions Thursday on a senior jihadist leader and preacher from Mali for his membership in Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaida affiliate active in the Sahel region of Africa. 
 
Amadou Kouffa led Mali’s Macina Liberation Front militant group before announcing its merger with JNIM and three other Islamist groups in March 2017. The U.S. State Department designated JNIM as a terrorist organization in September 2018. 
 
Since its formation, JNIM has targeted Malian and French troops, as well as U.N. peacekeepers. The group has been blamed for the deaths of more than 500 civilians and the kidnapping of dozens of others in attacks in the Sahel region, including the June 2017 attack at a resort frequented by Westerners outside Bamako, Mali, and the March 2018 attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. 
 
“Earlier this year, Kouffa led an attack against the Malian army in which more than 20 soldiers were killed,” the State Department said in a statement. 
 
The State Department said the terrorist designation aims to deny Kouffa the resources to plan and carry out more terrorist attacks.  Among other consequences, it prohibits U.S. nationals from engaging in any transactions with him. 
 
“Today’s designation notifies the U.S. public and the international community that Amadou Kouffa has committed, or poses a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism,” the department added. 
 
Who is Kouffa? 
 
A radical preacher from the central Malian town of Mopti, Kouffa has worked to exploit the rivalry between Muslim Fulanis and the Bambara ethnic group in the country to advance his agenda. In his messages to supporters, he has often called for rebuilding the 19th-century Massina Empire extending from Mali to Senegal and Nigeria. 
 
The French Defense Ministry and Malian army officials reported Kouffa killed in a French raid in Mali’s Mopti Region in November 2018. 
 
In February 2019, Kouffa reappeared in a 19-minute video in which  he mocked news of his demise and called on his supporters to continue targeting the Malian  and French military forces. 
 
France, the former colonial power in the region, has fought JNIM and other radical groups in Mali and other countries of the Sahel region for years. It intervened in Operation Serval in 2013 to help the Malian government push back against advancing Islamist militants from the north. The intervention has reportedly helped contain the jihadist threat but has failed to eliminate it. 
 
France’s Defense Ministry announced this week that its forces in Mali killed Ali Maychou last month. Maychou was second-in-command of JNIM, behind leader Iyad Ag Ghaly. 

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A Chinese court Thursday jailed nine people, one with a suspended death sentence, for smuggling fentanyl into the United States, saying this was the first such case the two countries had worked together on.

China has faced U.S. criticism for not doing enough to prevent the flow of fentanyl into the United States, and the issue has become another irritant in ties already strained by a bruising trade war the two are now working to end.

The announcement of the successful action against the smugglers comes as the two countries are expected to sign an interim trade deal.

Fentanyl is a highly addictive synthetic opioid, 50 times more potent than heroin. It is often used to make counterfeit narcotics because of its relatively cheap price, and it has played an increasingly central role in an opioid crisis in the United States.

US-China teamwork

Yu Haibin, a senior official with China’s National Narcotics Control Commission, told reporters in the northern city of Xingtai where the court case was heard, that Chinese and U.S. law enforcement had worked together to break up the ring, which smuggled fentanyl and other opioids to the United States via courier.

One of the people sentenced by the court was given a suspended death sentence, which in practice is normally commuted to life in jail, and two got life sentences, Yu said.

More than 28,000 synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths, mostly from fentanyl-related substances, were recorded in the United States in 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

U.S. drug enforcement has pointed to China as the source of fentanyl and its related supplies. China denies that most of the illicit fentanyl entering the United States originates in China, and says the United States must do more to reduce demand.

Issue of demand

Yu said that the issue of fentanyl was not something any one country could resolve.

“If illegal demand cannot be effectively reduced, it is very difficult to fundamentally tackle the fentanyl issue,” Yu said.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of not fulfilling a promise to crack down on fentanyl and its analogs.

Yu said China was willing to work with U.S. law enforcement authorities and all other international colleagues to fight narcotics and “continue to contribute China’s wisdom and power for the global management of narcotics.”

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A Bolivian protest leader who has become a symbol of opposition to President Evo Morales arrived on Wednesday in the nation’s capital, La Paz, where he plans to formally demand the leftist leader step down after a contentious election last month.

Luis Fernando Camacho, a civic leader from the eastern city of Santa Cruz, was whisked away in a convoy from the city’s main airport in nearby El Alto in the midst of a huge security presence and with rival protest groups massing outside.

The gambit, after he was blocked from leaving the airport on Tuesday, has sparked a fierce backlash from government supporters, while seemingly helping rally a split opposition. Camacho plans to march to the presidential palace to deliver a pre-written letter of resignation for Morales to sign.

The new attempt is likely to fan tensions following weeks of protests and strikes since the Oct. 20 vote. Hostilities have ramped up since Tuesday night in La Paz and Cochabamba, with clashes between Morales supporters and the opposition.

Government supporters and anti-Morales protesters clashed outside the El Alto airport late into Wednesday night. Carlos Mesa, the runner-up in the October election, had been at the airport waiting for Camacho to arrive, along with ex-President Jorge Quiroga.

“I think this is a fundamental moment for the opposition that believes in a democratic response and a peaceful way out,” said Mesa, who has repeatedly raised allegations of fraud against Morales and called for new elections.

Morales, a socialist leader who has been in power since 2006, has defended his election win and said that the opposition is trying to lead a “coup” against him and that his rivals were inciting violence.

Bolivians vs Bolivians

With little sign of a political solution, the standoff has worsened. On Wednesday, newspaper headlines decried the violence and pointed to an economic cost of $167 million. “Bolivians against Bolivians” read the front page of one local daily.

Local media reported the death of one young man in his twenties in the city of Cochabamba on Wednesday. In a tweet, Camacho blamed the death on Morales, and in a separate video message called for unity and calm.

Morales confirmed the death, saying the youngster was an “innocent victim of violence provoked by political groups encouraging racial hatred amongst our Bolivian brothers”.

“I hope Camacho and the people who follow him understand that the route they are taking simply leads to disaster,” state media reported defense minister Javier Zavaleta as saying.

Morales won last month’s vote with a lead of just over 10 points over Mesa, handing the former coca grower an outright win and avoiding a second-round runoff. The victory, however, was marred by a near 24-hour halt in the count, which, when resumed, showed a sharp and unexplained shift in Morales’ favor.

International governments have called for calm and are backing an audit of the election by the Organization of American States (OAS), which has recommended that a second round vote go ahead. Morales has agreed the audit will be “binding.”

The OAS on Wednesday called for calm while it completed its audit.

Since the vote, cities have gone into lockdown, with daily marches and road blocks. Camacho earlier this week called for people to blockade public institutions and the country’s borders in order to hit government incomes.

Benjamín Blanco, a senior trade official, said on Wednesday that borders with Peru, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil had been affected, with hundreds of trucks being stopped.

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Britain’s Parliament dissolved Wednesday for a five-week election campaign. Rising inequality is expected to be one of the central issues in Britain’s pre-holiday general election, as conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces off with leftist leader Jeremy Corbyn. Johnson has called for the snap election to gain more parliamentary support for his Brexit plan. But for some British voters, employment, health care, the environment and other issues are more important than how soon and under what conditions Britain can leave the European Union. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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The Berlin Wall’s demise 30 years ago brought an end to a divided  Berlin — and symbolized the eventual liberation of East Germany, and later the rest of Eastern Europe, from Soviet communist rule. Yet the wall’s anniversary comes as the politics of east and west continue to reverberate through German society.  In former communist East Germany, a democratic slogan from the revolution of 1989 rebounds – and resonates – among the present day nationalist far right. Charles Maynes reports from Thuringia in eastern Germany.

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A lone attacker on Wednesday stabbed three foreign tourists and their tour guide at a popular archaeological site in northern Jordan, the official Petra news agency reported.

The agency said the attacker also wounded a policeman before he was subdued and arrested. The wounded were taken to a hospital.
 
Amateur video showed a bloody scene next to the Jerash archaeological site, an ancient city whose ruins, including a Roman amphitheater and a columned road, are one of the country’s top tourist destinations.
 
In one video, a woman can be heard screaming in Spanish. “It’s a dagger, it’s a dagger, there is a knife. Please, help him now!”
 
One woman is seen lying on the ground, with much blood around her, as someone presses a towel to her back. Another man sits nearby with an apparent leg wound.
 
There were no further details, but the al-Ghad newspaper said the tourists were Mexican and suffered serious wounds.

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