Indaba zesiNdebele Ekuseni - Voice of America
Indaba zesiNdebele Ekuseni - July 18, 2024
This is viewing news, I'm Richard Green, U.S. Senator J.D. Mass of Ohio formally introduced himself to the American voters once tonight as the running mate of Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention. He has used his speech to share his story of his impoverished upbringing in the nation's Appalachian region of Kentucky and Ohio, making the case that his party best understands the challenges facing struggling Americans. Vance is a relative political unknown who was involved in recent years from a severe critic to an aggressive defender of former President Trump. The 39-year-old Vance is the first millennial to join a major party ticket. He joins the race, has questions about the ages of 71-year-old Trump and 81-year-old President Joe Biden have been high on the list of voters' concerns. Calls for Biden to step aside as the Democratic candidate in this year's election continued to grow from within his own party, where his correspondent Zachary Gelman reports. On Wednesday, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California became the 20th Congressional Democrat to suggest Biden end his re-election bid against Republican challenger Donald Trump. That's according to the Los Angeles Times, which quoted Schiff saying, "A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November." Democratic concern about the 81-year-old incumbent's ability to beat Trump surged after Biden's halting debate performance on June 27th, but Biden has so far stood firm. That was the word whose correspondent Zachary Gelman. Meanwhile, the White House says Biden tested positive on Wednesday for COVID-19 while traveling in Las Vegas, Nevada. A spokesperson said the president was experiencing mild symptoms from the infection. Biden returned to his home at a northeastern state of Delaware Wednesday evening. The White House says the president will self-acolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time. For more on this and all the stories we're covering, visit us at vioinews.com. Israeli authorities on Wednesday released more than a dozen detained Palestinians, some of whom showed signs of torture, a becursed by the Charles De La Desma reports. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says that the Israeli authorities have released 13 Palestinians who've been detained for several weeks picking them up from a checkpoint in the Gaza Strip and onto the El Aksa Mantis Hospital in Dear Al-Bala. The group includes a woman and a man with vision problems, Zacharia Abu Al-Aish, said he was detained 55 days ago in the Jabalia refugee camp in North Gaza. I was handcuffed, blindfolded, deprived from sleeping. No rest. Even the food they brought us was for animals if you eat or not, no one cares. They're dealt with us if we weren't humans, but not us. No release prison shows the AP remarks to which are on his body, and Charles philanthropic. Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Central Command, told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. military bill peer to carry humanitarian aid into Gaza will be dismantled and brought home. The peer has done exactly what we intended it to do and what the people of Gaza needed it to do, served a very high volume of aid quickly. The dismantling of the peer ends a mission that has been fraught with repeated weather and security problems that limited how much food and other supplies can get to starving Palestinians. As the U.S. military steps away from the sea route for humanitarian aid, questions swirl around. Israel's new plan to use the port at Ashdod as a substitute. There are a few details on how it will work and lingering concerns about whether aid groups will have enough viable land crossings to get assistance into the territory. President Cooper said the Ashdod corridor will be more sustainable. The U.S. Air Force announced Wednesday that Jack D'Shera, a member of the Air National Guard in the state of Massachusetts, will face a military court marshal months after he pleaded guilty to federal charges for leaking highly classified military documents. Here's AP correspondent Ed Donahue. D'Shera pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally collecting some of the nation's most sensitive secrets and sharing them on the social media platform Discord. These facing military charges of disobeying orders and obstructing justice. No date has been set, but the trial will be held at Hanscom Air Force Base outside Boston. At a hearing in May, prosecutors said obeying orders is the absolute core of the military. Court marshal is appropriate. TechShera's lawyers argued court marshal would amount to prosecuting him twice for the same offense. The leak exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments of Russia's war in Ukraine, including troop movements in Ukraine. TechShera also admitted to posting information about plans by an adversary to harm U.S. forces serving overseas. I'm Ed Donahue. For more on this and all the stories we're covering, visit us at viewanews.com. I'm Richard Green, for the U.A. News. JD Vance makes his first national speech as the Republican vice presidential candidate. We need a leader who's not in the pocket of big business, but answers to the working man union and non-union alike. Biden has COVID and cancels a campaign event. I was just on the phone with President Biden, and he shared his deep disappointment at not being able to join us this afternoon. At its Nelson Mandela International Day. Nelson Mandela showed us the extraordinary difference one person can make in building a better world. Today's Thursday, July 18th, and this is the OA's International Edition. I'm Scott Walterman, Greetings Milwaukee. My fellow Americans and my fellow Republicans, my name is JD Vance from the Great State of Ohio. Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, introduced himself to a national audience Wednesday night. He addressed the Republican National Convention. The Ohio Senator's headlining address was his first speech as the Republican vice presidential nominee. My friends, tonight is the night of hope, a celebration of what America once was, and with God's grace, would it will soon be again? Joining us now from the convention hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his VOA reporter, Steve Herman. For many people watching at home on television, this is really going to be the first time they ever see him with any depth at any length to hear him speak, right? That is correct, Scott. He's the junior senator from the state of Ohio. He's only been on the national scene as a politician for a short period of time, about a year and a half, but he's not a total unknown. He rose to some level of fame when he wrote a book called Hillbilly Elegy about his background growing up as a very poor kid in Ohio, basically from a family in the Appalachian region, a very poor, backward region economically of the United States, and that book was turned into a Hollywood movie, and it was really a story of rags to some fridges against all odds. J.D. Vance ended up at Yale Law School before going into business, and so there was a little bit about his background this evening when he was introduced by his wife, Usha, who comes from an Indian American family in San Diego, California. You know the thing that struck me when he first took the stage, and we've been so focused on President Biden and former President Trump was seeing someone who is so young, and you see the same contrast when Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage. But you know, we're so focused on President Trump in his late 70s and President Biden in his early 80s that when you see the contrast of the younger number twos on stage, it really sort of jolts you a little bit. Yes, obviously there's been a lot of talk in both parties about passing the torches to a younger generation, but the leaders of those two parties are not quite ready to do it just yet. And he was very compelling, very smooth, you know he's from the state of Ohio, the one moment that I remember from the speech, he's from the state of Ohio, so the Ohio delegation kept, you know, hollering and chanting, and he says, "Alright, let's cut down on the, you know, the Ohio shout outs, because we got to win Michigan too. It's really astute and very smooth." Yes, I really laughed a little bit at that comment as a native of Ohio, we're called Buckeyes. And the reason for that comment is of course Michigan is a swing state where Ohio is perceived as a red state, reliably, Republican at least in this election at the presidential level. But there is this huge football, American football, college football rivalry between Ohio State and the University of Michigan. And that's what he was alluding to in that regard. And of course Thursday night is the big night at the convention when we hear from former President Trump. That is correct, that will be the climax and the coronation, so to speak. What I'm hearing is when you add up the length of the speech that Donald Trump has prepared and what we can expect will be many, many interruptions for applause, that we're looking at an address that could probably go 90 minutes an hour and a half or more. So we'll see if he's able to hold the crowd for that length of time. I've noticed that some of the debate, that some of the rallies after about an hour and 15 minutes, sometimes people tend to drift out, you know, getting very tired at the end of a very long day. But I have a feeling there's probably not going to be too many people leaving this arena tomorrow now. All right. Thank you very much, my pleasure, Scott, who was for US President Joe Biden, according to a new poll, nearly two thirds of Democrats say he should withdraw from the race. California representative Adam Schiff has become the highest profile Democrat to call for Biden to drop out and the president had to cancel a campaign speech because he has COVID. Let's start with this new poll from the Associated Press. There's a peak correspondent, Sagar McGani. A new poll sharply undercuts President Biden's claim that average Democrats are still with him after his debate debacle. The AP Newark Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds nearly two thirds of Democrats say the president should pull out of the race and let the party pick someone else. The poll was done two weeks after the debate flop, and while he spent much of that time in damage control mode, the poll shows only about three in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident in his mental capability to do it down from 40 percent in February. Younger Democrats are especially likely to want to see the president bow out and say they're dissatisfied with him. Sagar McGani Washington President Biden had to cancel a speech on Wednesday and call off his campaign trip when it was announced he has COVID. I was just on the phone with President Biden, and he shared his deep disappointment at not being able to join us this afternoon. The president has been at many events, as we all know, and he just tested positive for COVID. The president is vaccinated and boosted. He's had COVID twice before, but that was not the end of his bad day. U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff from California called for Biden to drop out of the race. We're on that now from Reuters correspondent Zachary Goldman. I'm truly honored to be here. Calls for Joe Biden to step aside as the Democratic candidate in the 2024 presidential election continued to grow from within his own party. On Wednesday, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff of California became the 20th congressional Democrat to suggest Biden and his re-election bid against Republican challenger Donald Trump. That's according to the Los Angeles Times, which quoted Schiff saying, "A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the president can defeat Donald Trump in November." Democratic concern about the 81-year-old incumbent's ability to beat Trump surged after Biden's halting debate performance on June 27. But Biden has so far stood firm. At an NAACP rally in Las Vegas this week, he told the crowd he was, quote, "all in." Freedom, democracy, America, always marching, always believing, always keeping the faith. We're going to do this, so let me ask you, are you all in? 'Cause I'm all in. Biden was greeted by chance of four more years as he spoke to the major gathering of black voters. Tracy Presley is an NAACP delegate from the crucial swing state, Wisconsin. So my feelings I've ever seen him speak today is he's definitely strong, he's definitely ready to do the job, and he understands the assignment. And I don't believe that it's a time for him to step down right now. But Schiff's voice could be particularly resonant. The California Democrat is a prominent Trump critic who headed the 2019 investigation that led to Trump's first impeachment over his alleged effort to pressure Ukraine to help him win reelection. Trump remained in office because the Senate declined to convict him. Schiff is currently campaigning for the U.S. Senate. Some Democratic lawmakers have voiced concern that Biden staying in the race could hurt the party in down-ballot races. Reuters correspondent Zachary Gullman. Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez has allegedly told allies he will resign from Congress after being convicted on corruption charges. NBC News reported that on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the conversations. Pressure has been growing on Menendez of New Jersey to step down following his conviction on Tuesday on all 16 criminal counts he faced, including bribery at his federal trial in Manhattan. Senator Menendez has denied the report. We're following these other stories from around the world. 63 European Parliament lawmakers have asked the EU to withdraw Hungary's voting rights in the bloc in response to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's recent visits to Moscow and Beijing. Initial autopsy report showed traces of cyanide in the blood of six Vietnamese and American guests at a luxury hotel in central Bangkok. One of them is believed to have poisoned the others over a bad investment, according to police. 300 people were arrested in West Africa and $3 million was seized in an interpol operation aimed at organized crime groups. In Rwanda, Paul Kagami's win in the presidential election this week was widely expected, although critics say the vote was neither free nor fair. The OA Nairobi bureau chief, Mariama Diallo, spoke to analysts regarding Rwanda's political landscape and files this report from Rwanda's capital, Kagami. Kagami won over 99% of the vote, according to preliminary results announced on Monday. The Strathmore University lecturer, Edgar Gethua, predicted the 66-year-old Kagami would win big, but had no doubt the size of the victory would be greatly exaggerated. Rwanda is the paradox of Africa. Paradox of Africa because the Rwandists themselves are afraid to talk about their own election. If you have a vote where 98% of the population vote for one candidate, that is a red flag. Nobody is that popular. Kagami, who has held various roles since 1994, won by a similar margin in 2017. At a watch party organized by his ruling Rwandan patriotic front, he acknowledged that some people found his margin of victory this year suspicious. He says, "This is a strange thing. That's why there are so many who don't understand it, criticize it, but instead it continues to increase. It's the uniqueness of the RPF and the uniqueness of Rwandans," he said. Indeed, Kagami's supporters, including Samuel Quasera, say they would vote for him forever if they could. During the genocide of 1994, I was four years old, now it's 30 years until today and can see the progress, can see the controversy going on, I'm proud. Louis Mudge is the central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, which says while there are Rwandans who will continue to vote for Kagami, this was not a free and fair election. For our point, if you want to criticize government policy, there's simply no space for them to operate. Kagami faced two opponents, Democratic Green Party candidate Frank Cabineza, an independent candidate, Philip Mpaimana. Both received less than one percent of the vote. Other candidates, including some of Kagami's most vocal critics, were barred from running for president, including Diane Rui-Gara. One of the reasons was that she didn't garner the 600 signatures of support needed in her application. Mudge said in Rwanda's political climate, Rui-Gara had no chance to get the signatures or a place on the ballot. With the on Rui-Gara and with Victoria and Grabiri, this is not about this technical aspect of signatures, this is about not allowing compelling, articulate women to run and to take attention and basically challenging the narrative. Victoria Ingeberi Imuhosa, another critic of President Kagami, who was a presidential candidate in the 2010 elections, was arrested, tried and jailed on charges of terrorism and threatening national security. She was released eight years later through a presidential pardon. She says elections in Rwanda have long been predetermined. "P resist the wind of a presidential election if it goes to 100 percent, it's not a sign for popularity, but of lack of competition and I don't understand why they refuse to allow the most credible challenges to precipitate against President Kagami in election Rwanda." Analysts acknowledge that Kagami does enjoy real popularity among Rwanda's electorate, mainly for his ability to guide the East African country toward internal stability and economic progress since the 1994 genocide when an estimated 800,000 tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists. At the same time, they say, Kagami continues to stifle dissent as support for the president and his policies is not unanimous. Maria Magelu, Vioeños, Kigali, Rwanda The OA's international edition continues. I'm Scott Walterman. NATO's decision to open its first liaison office in Jordan, the first in the Middle East, reflects the alliance's growing concerns about Iran and Russia's increased influence in the region. As Dale Gavlak reports from Amman, the kingdom's long-standing ties with NATO made it a natural choice. The decision to open NATO's liaison office in the Jordanian capital, Amman, came during the recent NATO summit in Washington, marking the 75th anniversary of the military alliance. Ryan Ball, a senior Middle East analyst at the Rain Risk Intelligence in Washington, told Vioe the move is a solid diplomatic upgrade for Jordan creating better facilitation and lines of communication while placing Jordan solidly in the Western camp to enjoy some of NATO's collective defense capabilities. In a significant gesture of cooperation, Jordan and April intercepted Iranian missiles targeting Israel as they flew through Jordanian airspace. Ball says Jordan's active and coordinated air defense, sent it apart from Gulf Arab states. Jordan, with lying sorties alongside Western fighters to shoot down these drones and missiles that were propping their airspace, that was a much more active angle than the Saudis, the Emiratis, or any of the other Gulf Arabs would have been comfortable in doing. They're very interested in maintaining neutrality with the Iranians. Jordan, on the other hand, it's against Israel's campaign in Gaza, but it's also very much again. Iran attempts to use the Gaza war to deepen its influence across the region. Ball said Jordan has acted against Iran's hostile actions that have involved using Jordanian territory, including those not directed against the kingdom itself. And they've been intercepting Iranian weapons going into the West Bank. They're worried about the Iranians on their northern border, now that the Russians pulled out of that course in Syria a couple of years ago, for Jordan's NATO angle is all about Iran. Analyst Nicholas Harris of Washington's New Lines Institute told VOA that the opening of a NATO office in Jordan also signals Western intentions to curb Russia's influence in the region. The establishment of a NATO office in Jordan, which is prime strategic territory in the hot of the Middle East, indicates the wider region. NATO has a role beyond just Europe, and in fact, NATO's mandate extends throughout that southern region of Europe and the Mediterranean that Russia has been actively contested for the better part of the decade now. Julian Barnes-Dacy, Middle East Director of the European Council of Foreign Relations, says the NATO presence may quell some Jordanian concerns over Russia. "That institutionalizes those ties a bit more and highlights some of the risks that Jordan is facing, including obviously in terms of the Russian presence in Syria." Barnes-Dacy downplays the significance of the new NATO office in Amman, saying Jordan already has long-standing security ties with several Western NATO countries. Bill Gavlak, VOA News, Amman. "The government is not going to be able to do this, but it is not going to be a good way to do this. It is going to be a good way to do this. It is going to be a good way to do this. It is going to be a good way to do this. It is going to be a good way to do this. 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